Toowoomba businesses take new mask mandate in stride but concerns over Covid explosion

Toowoomba’s small businesses have taken new mask mandates in the stride as they seek to make the most of the current situation. But they say fears are growing over a spike in local Covid cases.

Coffee Emporium staff and owners (from left) Georgia Poole, James Riwaka, Lachlan Hunter and Penny O'Neill as wearing of masks is compulsory in most indoor settings, Sunday, January 2, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Toowoomba small business owners James Riwaka and Penny O’Neill have endured a difficult 12 months due to Covid-19, but they’re hoping 2022 will lead to a path out of the pandemic.

The franchise owners of the Coffee Emporium at Grand Central Shopping Centre and their staff are taking new mask mandates for cafes, shops and restaurants in their stride as Toowoomba braces for its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began last year.

Toowoomba and the Darling Downs now has nearly 180 actives cases as of Sunday, with more expected as Queensland prepares for an explosion in Covid-positive patients.

Ms O’Neill said the expansion of the mask mandate, which now applies to all employees and customers at indoor locations, was actually easier to police than the previous rules.

“It’s actually made it a lot easier, because there was a lot of confusion since technically people didn’t need to wear masks,” she said.

“Now they have to wear masks until they sit down to eat.

“It’s much clearer and less confusing, because we had takeaway customers who did have to wear a mask but dine-in customers didn’t.

“They already need to wear masks in the shopping centre so when they walk in here they are already wearing them.”

Ms O’Neill said she and other small business owners held some concerns for the coming weeks and months as cases continue to the mount.

But she said it had more to do with growing fears among the Toowoomba public than any further government restrictions.

Kevin Wharton and Rebecca Aberdeen take their masks off to eat at Coffee Emporium as wearing of masks is compulsory in most indoor settings, Sunday, January 2, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Business-wise, we’ve got a large percentage of senior citizens as our customers and we love them all and would hate to see them sick,” Ms O’Neill said.

“A few of us are concerned, because people are fearful and it’s not something we’ve seen in Queensland.

“We’ve had some very quiet days recently that we didn’t expect to have, and that was really driven by people being a bit fearful.

“The fact we’ve got it in Toowoomba, our residents aren’t used to that – we’ve been very spoiled.”

Ms O’Neill praised customers for remaining calm during increased restrictions, noting she had organised training for her staff to help with policing vaccination and mask restrictions.

Bodega Bar owner Todd Farr, whose venue hosted a massive crowd for New Year’s Eve, said the restrictions were a necessary part of life for small businesses at the moment as cases continued to rise.

Todd Farr, owner of Bodega Bar.

He also thanked his customers for following the rules, to this point.

“We’ve just got to march forward,” he said.

“We’ve had absolutely no problems with all our punters — everyone has been obliging.

“Everyone that we’ve see has been doing the right thing because everyone wants the same goal.”

But Mr Farr said it was important the State Government gave clear direction on what a return to normal would look like, as well as when that would occur.

“Life needs to get back to normal, we need volume for us all the prosper,” he said.

“We can’t go back to where we were in March and April 2020.”