{"id":62649,"date":"2021-11-13T08:56:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=62649"},"modified":"2021-11-13T08:56:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T15:56:31","slug":"front-line-workers-faring-well-amid-new-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2021\/11\/13\/front-line-workers-faring-well-amid-new-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"Front-line workers faring well amid new mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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3 Steps:<\/strong> Signs outside of the Shane Homes YMCA in Calgary. (Photo by Julia Doten\/SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I<\/span>mplementing Alberta\u2019s vaccine requirement is going surprisingly well for some put to the task.<\/p>\n

F<\/span>ront-line workers have been enforcing COVID-19 health restrictions alongside their regular tasks since the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

For Dakotah Northcut, member services supervisor at YMCA Calgary, the anticipation of enforcing these new restrictions luckily outweighed the reality facing her and her staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was definitely concerned about how people would react or treat them,\u201d said Northcut. \u201cI think for any front-line staff this is a concern just because of how controversial this has all been.\u201d<\/p>\n

For front-line staff working at businesses or events that have chosen to implement the Restrictions Exemption Program, their role is to verify these records, which entails checking the vaccine document itself.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve had people voicing their opinions about it, or their concerns,\u201d said Northcut. \u201cBut for the most part it’s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Li, who waiters at Nellie\u2019s Break the Fast Caf\u00e9 in downtown Calgary, said that he anticipated having difficult interactions with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I was expecting it,\u201d said Li. \u201cSurprisingly, I haven\u2019t had any issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta Health Services has received \u201cmore than 1,347 complaints and requests related to COVID-19 public health orders in the week since new restrictions went into effect,\u201d according to CBC News on Sept. 28.<\/p>\n

These new restrictions came into effect on Sept. 20, 2021, and offer two different options to businesses in Alberta.<\/p>\n

According to the Government of Alberta, the first option entails implementing the Restrictions Exemption Program, which requires proof of vaccination or a negative test result. Plus, mandatory masking to continue operating as usual.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, businesses can comply with all public health restrictions that were established before the REP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vaccine checking has actually been a little bit easier,\u201d said Northcut. \u201cI think it’s just at this point, most people are just ready to kind of get things moving again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHonestly, I was expecting it,\u201d said Li. \u201cSurprisingly, I haven\u2019t had any issues.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

With the anticipation of difficult encounters with customers mostly out of the way, the focus seems to have shifted to the vaccine requirements ease of use.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy,\u201d said Li. \u201cIt\u2019s just time consuming, that\u2019s the only thing. If I check them one-by-one and I\u2019m busy, it backs up everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

With several other provinces having QR codes associated with residents\u2019 vaccine records, some have wondered if Alberta could implement something similar to make the process easier and more verifiable.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, privacy concerns surrounding QR codes are still prevalent, with Saskatchewan restoring its vaccine QR code system after a privacy glitch, and Quebec seeing some people create their own fraudulent QR codes.<\/p>\n

For Li, a QR code would potentially make his job easier. \u201cIf they if they implemented that and I just had to scan it, that’d be way faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Implementing Alberta\u2019s vaccine requirement is going surprisingly well for some put to the task. Front-line workers have been enforcing COVID-19 health restrictions alongside their regular tasks since the start of the pandemic. For Dakotah Northcut, [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":62653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1560],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-62649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-pandemic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62649"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62654,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62649\/revisions\/62654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}