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Super Value chief: Retain food store mask mandate

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Rupert Roberts

• Fears supermarkets will become ‘number one spreader’

• Chain’s staff to stay masked as ‘too dangerous’ to lift

• But others say: Leave choice to individuals, business

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s principal yesterday urged the Government to maintain the COVID mask mandate for supermarkets and prevent the sector from becoming “the number one spreader” of the virus.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business he felt it was “too dangerous” to end the mandatory wearing of masks in food stores given that they typically attracted large numbers of shoppers who frequently find themselves in close proximity to one another.

Acknowledging that his call may prove unpopular with some, while revealing that the 13-store chain plans to require all its staff to continue wearing masks, he said: “If we’re wrong, we’re wrong on the side of caution.”

The Super Value chief told this newspaper that he had reached out to Dr Nikkiah Forbes, the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ infectious diseases head, and Dr Duane Sands, the Free National Movement (FNM) chairman, among other medical practitioners to make the case to the Davis administration that the mask mandate still be enforced for food stores.

“I’ve asked Dr Sands, and Dr Kevin Bethel and Dr Forbes, to speak on our behalf that the supermarkets want to retain the masks for now, and let’s wait and see what happens and where the virus goes,” Mr Roberts argued. “We said: ‘Please do all you can to keep masks in the supermarket’ because if not we will become the number one spreaders.

“We have kept the public safe so far, and would like to continue that. We don’t want to kill granny and be the top spreaders. Definitely, definitely, we think it’s too dangerous. We will keep our staff in masks, and we would like the Government to keep the public in masks for now....

“I think that for places where people congregate, like supermarkets, they shouldn’t be replaced. That’s our thought and desire. We’d definitely be disappointed if they don’t include us in wearing the masks. We can do this in one, two or three stages.”

Not every food store backed Mr Roberts’ and Super Value’s position, though. Philip Beneby, the Retail Grocers Association’s president, told Tribune Business that Bahamians, residents and tourists should be left to decide for themselves whether they wear a mask or not. And it was up to each merchant and business to decide if they mandate staff and/or customers continue wearing masks once the nationwide requirement is dropped.

“If they feel like the time is now to drop it, I don’t have an issue with that,” Mr Beneby said of the mask mandate. “That’s what it’s going to lead to. Everybody would have their choice and, based on how they feel, how they are going, based on the environment they are in, all they have to do is pull out masks and put them on.

“Nobody is stopping them from doing that. If they feel safer, you may find some people carry a mask and, based on the environment and how congested it is, they may decide to pull on a mask. I don’t have any issue with that. It’s entirely up to the public if they feel safe without a mask.”

Mr Beneby added that the mask mandate’s end was unlikely to spur increased business volumes for companies catering to domestic consumers. “I think it will help the hotels more than the grocery stores and other businesses because then the visitors will feel more freer to move about better, inside and outside, without their masks,” he said.

“The US has lifted their mandatory mask wearing. In order for us to make tourists feel more comfortable, more welcome and make them feel like we’re not imposing any pressure on them with wearing a mask, we had to follow suit.”

The Government, in confirming the mandatory wearing of COVID masks ends on October 1, 2022, said that thereafter they will only be compulsory in indoor school classrooms, care homes for the elderly or in accessing healthcare facilities as The Bahamas comes into line with the stance taken by multiple other countries worldwide.

There has been widespread debate about how effective mask-wearing has been in preventing COVID-19 transmission and spread during the pandemic, with global opinion divided on the issue. Mr Roberts, though, said that while the latest COVID variants may be less deadly than earlier versions, such as the Delta strain, they appeared to be more contagious and easily spread.

“If I go to Kelly’s [Home Centre], mind you it might not be as dense as a supermarket, but if I get up to the register and there are three to four other customers there, I want them all to wear masks, the cashier to wear a mask and the staff to wear masks,” he told Tribune Business. “I don’t wear a mask in the open air, but I don’t dare go into a congested area without a mask for my protection and other people’s protection. We don’t know about this virus yet.

“COVID is still spreading to my knowledge. I’ve seen it in my own family. I’ve seen them travel and come back with it, catching it either at the airport, or the air plane or in the country they’ve visited.” This newspaper, too, knows of one Bahamian chief executive who recently endured a rough two weeks with COVID although it will not name them for this article.

Mr Roberts, who is presently in the US with family, recalled how his wife was asked to pull up her mask by two elderly ladies on Wednesday when she visited a pharmacy at a Wal-Mart store. The pharmacists on-duty also backed the call for her to fix her mask.

“I guess with the exception of people who are elderly or who have medical issues, it’s over,” he added of the pandemic. “But you never know when those issues come up. People, especially children, are getting the virus and don’t even know it, and adults are getting it and thinking it’s the common cold or flu. They are travelling around among us now.

“I know an individual who thought he had the flu, then got tested, and they tested positive for COVID. You never know. I know of somebody that had an issue for two months. There’s no limit to the number of times it can attack you, and every time there’s a toll on the body.”

Conceding that many Bahamians are weary of COVID, and fatigued with the protocols that were introduced to combat it, Mr Roberts said of his supermarket mask-wearing stance: “If we’re wrong, we’re wrong on the side of caution. Given what we’ve been through, we want to act with caution. We didn’t like the lockdowns, we didn’t like the things that happened to us, and we don’t want to go through that again.

“I don’t think that will happen, but there’s a real possibility we will be stricken with a much milder virus that is more contagious, and we don’t know what the danger is. I say: ‘Be cautious’. I want to forget the world ‘COVID’, but I still want to be safe.”

Comments

Sickened 2 years, 3 months ago

As a Trump follower I think having patron's ingest bleach is probably a safer path.

M0J0 2 years, 3 months ago

Close the store down then. Always want control go sit down. The gov. said its drop, its dropped.

tribanon 2 years, 3 months ago

Conceding that many Bahamians are weary of COVID, and fatigued with the protocols that were introduced to combat it, Mr Roberts said of his supermarket mask-wearing stance: “If we’re wrong, we’re wrong on the side of caution. Given what we’ve been through, we want to act with caution. We didn’t like the lockdowns, we didn’t like the things that happened to us, and we don’t want to go through that again.

What a silly and mean old fart. Roberts is actually saying he wants to punish his patrons for the difficult times his food store business had as a result of the unconstitutional and unnecessary emergency health protocols imposed by a tyrannical Minnis led government during the height of the pandemic.

But Roberts is really genuflecting to PM Davis and senior representatives of the Chinese Communist Party in our country, Vomit Christie being the chief Bahamian one among them.

And we all know cruel Davis is very reluctant for his own personal reasons to put an end to all the unconstitutional emergency powers. Without these emergency powers, the forced masking Roberts wishes to impose on his food store shoppers would be illegal as would so many things cruel and corrupt Davis is currently doing behind the scenes.

User1234 2 years, 3 months ago

Yep...Local supermarket owner becomes Virologist...the world has moved on mate...should have been dropped 6 months ago, if you don't feel safe then wear one but don't expect others too...it should be a personal choice.

benniesun 2 years, 3 months ago

boy·cott \ˈbȯi-ˌkät\ transitive verb : to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions

DDK 2 years, 3 months ago

Must be on a serious power trip! ONE of the problems of monopolies. The Public SHOULD boycott his stores WHENEVER possible. Just like forcing the poor children to remain mask prisoners, some people just can't let it go.

bcitizen 2 years, 3 months ago

If he wants to still have masks in food stores then make it a Super Value store policy that workers and customers have to wear masks to enter and watch his business collapse as people shop at locations with no mask requirements. People sick and tired of wearing those worthless masks.

tribanon 2 years, 3 months ago

The masks are filthy, disgusting, and dangerous to one's physical and mental health.

Yet cruel Davis, in clinging to his emergency powers for all they are worth to him in his corrupt wheeling and dealing behind the scenes for self-gain, is making our nation's young and vulnerable school children wear these most filthy, disgusting, and dangerous masks in the classroom each school day.

Cruel Davis should be forced by the Bahamian people to wear a mask 24-7 until he puts an end to all the unconstitutional emergency powers aimed at creating a submissive and subservient class of people to be ruled by the corrupt political elite like himself with the CCP in the shadows calling all the shots.

JokeyJack 2 years, 3 months ago

One day, Davis - like all of us, will witness the awesome power of God, and then all the bullies will realize how foolish they were in this life. Playing in a sandbox like xhildren compared to Him.

ohdrap4 2 years, 3 months ago

He is not going to collapse. There are many who still want masks mandated and will patronize.

And I. I go there to clean out his loss leaders every week. Yep, will wear mask to buy kraft macaroni.

Now, if you all boycotters pay the difference I will buy the 20 dollar grapes at Fresh Markets.

Gee, pick your battles , folks.

JokeyJack 2 years, 3 months ago

I won't wear mask even for free macaroni. Beginning Oct 1st customers will divide themselves amoung stores according to management stupidity.

birdiestrachan 2 years, 3 months ago

This is very interesting he reached out to Dr: Sands. big deal

realfreethinker 2 years, 3 months ago

What a fooking idiot. Mask mandate removal is long overdue. If I were working there and he continue that stupid, worthless mask mandate I would sue his ass.

TalRussell 2 years, 3 months ago

Nah ― not gonna matter, unless Grocerman's Rupert with his vast purchasing power and connections over Chinese groceries exporters, has a direct hot line on his SuperValu desk, that rings directly to Chinese President Comrade Xi Jinping, urging him act, so as prevent what Russian state media are saying, nuclear war appears to be “a given” and “everyone, masked or unmasked' will be destroyed, should Putin react feeling pushed into corner where 2022 nuclear war launch button is kept ― Yes?

tom1912 2 years, 3 months ago

Question Would you let Dr Sands operate on you using one of those many home made and chinese made masks that were and still are used in some stupid countries in the world! :) :) :) Nothing short of a full hazmat suit would do the job or a typical WW2 full mask with hepa filters have good chance of preventing infection transfer!

PS. Funny enough most of the sky blue face masks made in china have the statement on their boxes, not for medical use!!!

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