Red Deer city council puts off mask debate another week

It was Aug. 17 when council made masks mandatory on transit.

“As with all these announcements from the premier and medical officer of health, there are some additional details that need to be fleshed out in the upcoming week to ensure that the logistics and questions that, inevitably, our citizens and businesses will have can be answered in a thorough and accurate manner that limits confusion on what this all means,” Seabrooke stated. “For that reason, I’ve asked council to pause and not proceed with any further discussions today, including on any consideration of a masking bylaw.”

Last Friday, rdnewsNOW spoke to councillors Dianne Wyntjes and Ken Johnston who felt that now would be a good time to reopen the debate on making face coverings mandatory in public places.

Wyntjes reiterated many of the same points she did to rdnewsNOW on Friday, urging Red Deerians to more strongly consider their fellow citizens’ circumstances, be it an underlying condition or age.

“I don’t want to see a divided community,” she said, passionately. “Looking back at the August bylaw that we tabled, it’s important to recognize that things have changed. We had all hoped that things would be different [for the better], but they’re not. While there’s hope today with vaccines, things are not going to change in the immediate future, so how do we manage this?”

Councillor Vesna Higham said that Red Deer has done “exceptionally well” in terms of staying at or near the bottom of the active cases list until this point.

“Our public is rightly concerned about the recent spike in numbers in Red Deer in the wake of Thanksgiving and possibly Halloween,” Higham said. “Council shares your concerns, and I can say without reservation that we are deeply engaged and committed to providing our community with a balanced and measured approach to responding to this global pandemic. COVID is here to stay and we cannot stop it in its tracks.”

Higham went on to say that the most critical point for City leadership and the community is to manage the virus response in a calm and responsible manner, in order to preserve the health care system.

She said the community must be vigilant and unified in flattening the curve, and while some may say Alberta has already done that, things can spike quickly.

“The other critical issue is that we need to consider a community how to keep our economy afloat and vibrant through these very tough times,” she said, noting concerns from businesses about a masking bylaw which may conflict with other governing authorities.

Seabrooke was also asked by Councillor Buck Buchanan to ensure the pending report addresses the science of potential new measures, with that being a common concern from people who’ve reached out to council.

“We have had a lot of varying opinions on that issue. I think the best we can do is rely on the chief medical officer of health for the province; that is the individual who is guiding the province in its decision-making,” Seabrooke responded. “We will be asking the province to give us the various metrics and how they’ve relayed the correct scientific information upon which they base their decisions. There isn’t any way for us non-medical experts to decipher various information and the opinions coming our way.”

The Town of Cochrane announced today that face coverings are now mandatory in all public premises, effective immediately. Cochrane is not under watch status or enhanced measures, and has an active cases/100,000 people rate of 42, with 14 active cases. Red Deer’s per 100,000 person rate is 88.7.

Next Monday’s meeting will not be open for the public to attend in-person, but citizens can watch at meeting.reddeer.ca.

Council to hear COVID-19 briefing, set special meeting discussing additional measures

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Red Deer city council puts off mask debate another week

What's Trending