As the provincial mandate came into effect, some businesses immediately saw an increasing divide in how the community responded.

As the Kootenay Co-op Grocery Store hired its first-ever security guard, an employee at Empire Coffee was spat on. Tensions around the pandemic are not new in Nelson — Baker Street and city hall have been the sites of at least three back-to-back anti-mask protests — but they are escalating.

Business owners have been trying to balance maintaining a safe environment for staff and patrons, and unofficially enforcing pandemic protocols, although Interior Health and Dr. Bonnie Henry said it is not the responsibility of businesses to enforce the mask mandate.

Listen to the CJLY story here:

With files from Jake Sherman.

Rob Little, the general manager at the Adventure Hotel, watched his coworker have a heart attack after being spit on by a customer who refused to wear a mask. Photo by Keili Bartlett.

A greeter at the Kootenay Co-op Grocery Store explains the mask mandate and COVID-19 protocols to customers entering the business. Photo by Keili Bartlett.