Mask

By Connor Gunn

Lethbridge mask mandate to be removed July 1

Jun 29, 2021 | 5:54 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – After a group of specialists in respiratory and critical care said the City of Lethbridge’s face mask bylaw is no longer necessary, council repealed their mandate.

The removal of the mask bylaw in Lethbridge is in line with the province’s face-covering mandate repeal.

Drs. Eric Wilde, P.L. Oviatt, Josh Henkelman, and Kurt Olson have jointly written a letter to city council that was addressed at the meeting that stated their point:

“Locally, we presently have fewer than 5 total admitted cases of Covid-19 related illness in the Lethbridge Regional Hospital. Services have fully resumed for all facets of routine medical care.

“Well over one year of preparation and planning have gone into the response plan, should further waves emerge. With this in hand, we are surprised at the local resistance to embrace provincial-led initiatives for reopening.”

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“Clinically speaking, we rely on hard data to inform our decision-making processes. The current decision by Lethbridge City council regarding ongoing masking is not reflecting the current status of the pandemic within our province or city, medically speaking”

After council voted down a motion earlier this month that stated the city would introduce a new bylaw to get rid of the Temporary Mandatory Face Covering Bylaw (Bylaw 6239) within 24 hours of the province declaring that Stage 3 would be commencing, which would have set the stage for both the municipal and provincial mask mandates being lifted at the same time.

The group of doctors says that when the mask mandate is removed, going forward if there was a virus outbreak in the city, Lethbridge and the province would be prepared.

Previous story: Lethbridge doctors tell city council to remove mask bylaw

After extensive debate about whether council should remove its mask bylaw, the doctors assured councillors that the vaccines are one of the only sure things to work during a pandemic and to help end it.

Council needed unanimous support in order to pass the repealing of the bylaw which was doubted early on in the meeting but eventually came to a 9-0 vote.

More on council’s motion can be found here.

The Province’s mandatory mask requirement, which overrides the local Bylaw, began in December 2020. On April 6, 2021, Lethbridge City Council voted to extend the local Bylaw until December 31, 2021. However, Council also had the ability to repeal Bylaw 6239 prior to the extension date. For more information on the City’s response to COVID-19, visit www.lethbridge.ca/covid19.