May 13, 2021

By rdnewsNOW staff

effective today

Province now requires medical exception letter for those unable to wear a mask

May 13, 2021 | 4:41 PM

The Alberta Government is making changes to the mask exemption rules in the province.

Chief Medical Health Officer Doctor Deena Hinshaw says to help prevent spread and to ensure people are masking appropriately, Alberta Health is clarifying which limited health issues constitute a mask-wearing exemption based on current evidence.

The list includes:

1. Sensory Processing Disorders
2. Developmental delay or cognitive impairment
3. Mental Illness
4. Facial trauma or recent oral or jaw surgery
5. Contact Dermatitis or allergic reaction to mask components
6. Clinically Significant Acute Respiratory Distress.

The exemptions also include those who can’t put on or take off a mask independently, someone who is eating or drinking while sitting down, or if there is an occupational risk for wearing a mask.

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“In order to verify that someone has a medical condition that makes them unable to wear a mask, Albertans with these conditions will require a medical exception letter from a health professional,” Hinshaw said, noting the new measures take effect today (Thursday).

“This letter is important to have especially if requested by enforcement officials for not complying with the legal requirement to wear a mask in indoor public spaces.”

Letters must come from a nurse practitioner, physician, or psychologist. Details of what needs to be in the letter are available online. Guidance has also been shared with health professionals authorized to write the letters.

Hinshaw says this decision is modelled after approaches already being used in Saskatchewan and Quebec as well as resources developed by the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons.

She explained this decision “is not meant to punish people unfairly. It is meant to ensure anyone who is capable of wearing a mask complies with this important public health measure intended to keep us all safe which is especially important during this third wave of COVID-19 in the province.”

(With file from Regan Tate – CHAT News Today)