Canberrans cautiously remove their masks

Staff at The Food Co-op, a community-run grocery store in the city, will likely continue to don their masks, Communications Coordinator Amie Illfield said.

"Because our frontline staff are volunteers, and they tend to do shorter shifts ... I think they're quite happy [wearing masks]," she said.

She noted the shorter shifts made masks less of a constraint than in larger supermarkets where people worked longer hours.

"I think there are probably quite a few people here who feel that masks a small price to pay for increased security," she said.

Ms Illfield said it would be "nice to see people's smiles again" but felt that staff and patrons had been able to maintain valuable exchanges despite the masks.

Subsdance studio director Charlie Wan said she would continue to encourage her staff to wear masks when they were coming into contact with lots of people.

"Whilst it is exciting, and it means that we seem to be transitioning back to a new normal, I think it's really easy to forget that there are still people who are at risk," she said.

"We are moving forward, really taking into consideration government guidelines, whilst also not forgetting ... our key motivation with everything that we do, which is it's about putting the community first."

For hairdressers, who rely on watching for facial cues in a noisy environment, as well as tailoring their services to client's features, relaxed rules around masks will come as a relief, Bond Hair Religion owner Jenni Tarrant said.

"One of the big things for hairdressers is that because of all of our noise, like most salons have music, and then we have blow dryers going, so it's something that we just naturally do is to be able to read lips," she said.

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"Face shapes are so important to what we do as well, and it's very hard when you can't actually see three quarters of people's faces.

"So it will make our job a lot easier, for those that want to take them off."

She said her salon was happy for staff and clients to continue to wear face masks if they wanted to, or take them off if they preferred.

Masks have been somewhat of a hindrance for staff too.

"Wearing a mask for 12 hours, especially the four thickness ones ... I changed mine three times a day just because it's so awful," she said.

Some staff might enjoy "the feeling of being able to breathe better" but others would prefer not to remove their masks, especially if they had any health conditions, Ms Tarrant said.

Face masks have been mandatory in Canberra since June, in response to Sydney's then-escalating outbreak of the Delta strain.

On October 29 restrictions eased to allow Canberrans to remove their face masks outdoors.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Tuesday said that people will still be required to wear masks "in high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities, on public transport, in schools and in certain business settings".

"However, we do remind people, and I know there is a really strong understanding of this amongst Canberrans, that wearing a face mask is a simple and very practical way to minimise the transmission of the virus," he said..

"And the government will continue to be encouraging people to wear face masks particularly in indoor settings, particularly crowded indoor settings where you would be mixing with people outside of your household or workplace."

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