Councillor concerned at people not wearing masks

Councillor Meg Barrow, who represents Codsall North, has asked for South Staffordshire’s Covid marshals to be present in shopping areas when students are leaving school.

Speaking at South Staffordshire Council’s licensing and regulatory committee meeting on Thursday she said: “I’m quite concerned that some of the supermarket staff are still not wearing masks. I go in my local Co-op in Codsall and the staff are not wearing masks.

“I asked why and it was ‘we don’t have to’, but it does concern me, particularly when you’re walking around the store and they’re going from the office and getting goods out. People going in are expected to wear masks and yet the staff aren’t. Is that right?

“I get concerned as well when the children are coming out of school – particularly the older ones here in Codsall, the 16 and 17 year olds and sixth formers. They seem to think that masks are not for them, they’re children when they want to be and adults when they want to be and ‘we don’t have to wear masks’.

“It would be nice, particularly at school times, if we had the marshals round the local shops in Codsall and Birches Bridge to reinforce that they are included in these rules the same as everyone else.”

Committee members were told that officers had visited the Codsall Co-op branches the previous week. Staff need to wear face coverings if working with colleagues or in close contact with customers, but exemptions apply for health reasons for some.

The council’s assistant team manager for environmental health and licensing said: “In the last week there’s been a real push and a drive to improve measures in supermarkets – particularly this issue with face coverings by customers and staff.

“The staff are covered separately through health and safety laws. If there is a specific issue or specific members of staff you notice who aren’t wearing face coverings, if you describe them to us we can try and work out whether we can identify who it is that’s not complying.

“It might be that if there aren’t any customers in the vicinity they don’t have to wear them at that time – it is about close contact with other people. When you are out on the street you’re not required legally to wear one.

“The Covid marshals do patrol schools and they are starting to do a lot of work with the schools. It is trying to get people to take responsibility – it’s not just the schoolchildren, it’s everybody else as well.

“Social distancing is still really important. The messages are there, it’s human behaviour which is the difficulty, which police and local authorities everywhere are experiencing. And the supermarkets, with customers who don’t want to comply.”

A Co-op spokesperson said: “The health and safety of colleagues and customers has remained our top priority throughout the pandemic.

“We have strict measures in place, including the use of visors, face coverings, the installation of protective screens, stringent and increased cleaning protocols and use of social distancing markers and signage, while also limiting the numbers of customers entering into stores at any one time, including the use of traffic light systems in place at hundreds of locations.”