Buck Buchanan, Red Deer City Councillor (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall and Troy Gillard

we’re not “getting the information we should”

City councillor suggests doctors ‘muzzled’ from speaking out about COVID-19

Nov 24, 2020 | 12:50 PM

A Red Deer city councillor suggested on Monday that medical professionals are being kept from speaking out about COVID-19.

Buck Buchanan said during Monday’s council meeting regarding a face coverings bylaw for Red Deer that he spoke to a local doctor who said, “A lot of the things we’re being told are not actually factual. Many people within the system are being muzzled.”

He also said, “We’re not, in all instances, getting the information we should be getting.”

RELATED: Red Deer Regional Hospital preparing for more COVID-19 patients

Buchanan tells rdnewsNOW that the doctor he spoke with works in the emergency department at Red Deer Regional Hospital, but would not identify them beyond that.

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“At the last meeting, they said we had 70 ICU beds and that we’re at 70 or 80 per cent capacity. Well, he says those are things being set aside by the province right now, and we actually have 800 ICU beds. He says being at 70 or 80 per cent of capacity is just not true,” Buchanan said.

“Doctors and nurses can’t tell you what’s happening because of the fear, and teachers (are) another group of folks who are not able to tell you what’s happening,” he suggested. “We had an email from a teacher who said to come look what’s happening there; the kids are flipping the masks around on their wrists, dropping them on the ground.”

Buchanan also shared concerns over the swab test used to detect COVID-19.

“The other thing he (doctor he spoke with) said was that when they do the swab test, they then break it down to fibres, and you could get a fibre not necessarily from you, or it’s from you, but you’re not carrying the disease. That fibre could’ve been from a carpet. I wouldn’t suggest I totally understand it, but that’s what he was saying.”

Buchanan was one of two city councillors who voted against the bylaw approved on Monday that makes mask wearing mandatory in all public places in Red Deer, though he made it clear that it wasn’t because he is “anti-mask.”

“What I’m frustrated about is that I think it should be mandated by the province. Last meeting, we had over 100 pages of bylaws from Calgary, Edmonton, Camrose, Strathcona, St. Albert, Banff and others. They each have their own iteration,” he explained. “We’re going to say you’ve got to do this in Red Deer, but then you can go to Gasoline Alley and do something different. Let’s just get this so that it’s uniform.”

Buchanan said he’s heard from at least one restaurant owner in the city worried over the impact the mask wearing bylaw will have on their business, even though it includes an exemption for those who are eating or drinking.

Councillor Tanya Handley also voted against the bylaw on Monday, saying that while she supports and will continue to encourage mask use, she wasn’t ready to vote in favour of mandating it.

Alberta government and health officials are holding a news conference Tuesday afternoon, where it’s expected that additional measures aimed at curbing COVID-19 spread will be announced.

UPDATE: Emergency doctors say city councillor wrong about them being ‘muzzled’ over COVID-19