Listen Live
HomeNewsMask-wearing in apartment building common areas a contentious issue

Mask-wearing in apartment building common areas a contentious issue

Timmins Mayor George Pirie is urging mask-wearing in apartment building hallways and other common areas, on the heels of an outbreak at a North Bay building that has killed two tenants.

Timmins City Hall has received complaints from at least one building.  Municipal clerk Steph Palmateer says it is against the rules, but it’s difficult to enforce.  He notes it’s not like a big box store, where bylaw enforcement officers can just walk in.

“In an apartment setting, we need a property manager or someone to let us into the building and so it is a little more difficult to enforce from that perspective,” he claims.

Palmateer says there’s a grey area in the Emergency Act that complicates enforcement: a mask isn’t required by anyone just going to the laundry room, for instance, providing they maintain physical distance from others.

- Advertisement -

“And then same, vice-versa. If that person going to the laundry room happens to meet someone coming home from outside, if they’re passing in the hallway, they’re not required to put a mask on. If they stop and interact, well then yes, they have to put a mask on.”

More details, including building management responsibilities, are in the full interview with Steph Palmateer, right here.

- Advertisment -
- Advertisment -
- Advertisement -

Continue Reading