Okotoks council has agreed to make masks mandatory in its municipal facilities, but a bylaw to mandate face coverings in all indoor public spaces will not take effect unless the number of active cases in town reaches 15.
Council gave third reading at its Aug. 17 meeting to require masks in all Town-owned facilities as of Aug. 24 including the Okotoks Recreation Centre, Foothills Centennial Centre, Pason Centennial Arenas, the Okotoks Municipal Building and Operations Centre, and the Eco Centre. Masks are also mandatory on Okotoks Transit.
In addition, Okotoks council passed a second bylaw to implement mandatory masking in all public indoor facilities in town should the number of active COVID-19 cases reach the watch point, based on the population of Okotoks, which is 15. The bylaw would remain in effect until there are fewer than 15 cases in town for 30 consecutive days.
“If active cases rise to 15 again the 30 consecutive days will restart before the mandatory mask provisions will lapse,” said Peter Stapley, Okotoks Municipal Enforcement manager.
Other large municipalities in the province have mandatory masking bylaws, including Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Canmore, Chestermere and Jasper, he said. Lethbridge has mandated masks in its municipal facilities and Cochrane will make masks mandatory if COVID cases reach 10.
Coun. Florence Christophers said she believes the bylaw is a good measure to help the town fight COVID-19 transmission.
“What we’re trying to do with this bylaw is telling our community we don’t want to get to 15 cases,” said Christophers. “Let’s be like the provincial government and walk the path they’re walking, which is encouraging face masks.
“This council has made it clear we’ll go to mandatory if we need to.”
She said the Town has made a strong statement that masks are recommended without having to pull the trigger and mandate them in all public buildings just yet.
Passing the bylaw puts the ball in residents’ hands, she said.
“This is really just trying to come up the middle and we leave it in your hands and we’ll see where you take it, community of ours,” said Christophers.
Coun. Ed Sands supported the bylaw, noting it recognizes the Town’s responsibility to its citizens but also puts the onus on residents to work towards preventing transmission. It’s the right blend of protecting the community without having to be heavy-handed, he said.
It’s challenging to come up with the right solution on such a controversial issue, he said.
“I’m asking my community, please don’t make me make you wear a mask,” said Sands. “Do the right thing – stay socially distant, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, follow social gathering responsibilities, take care of yourself.”
Coun. Ken Heemeryck said council is doing the best it can to follow the medical advice being passed down by the Province.
“What I’m trying to do for the most part is follow what I think the good advice of Dr. Hinshaw is, and that’s the strongly recommend mask-wearing and I do strongly recommend that, and I think this goes an extra step if it’s needed into the future,” he said.
Coun. Matt Rockley spoke out against the bylaw, arguing it didn’t go far enough towards prevention and council is playing with peoples’ lives if it waits until the number of cases triples before mandating masks.
“This bylaw is proposing we wait for there to be a problem before we try to prevent the problem and it really makes no sense,” said Rockley. “Why would we wait to try to prevent transmission until after there’s already been a significant increase in transmission?”
He said the bylaw was a compromise but in his opinion that’s not good enough and he would prefer to see a full mask bylaw, similar to the City of Calgary, implemented immediately.
Waiting until 15 cases have been confirmed is dangerous because some people could die in the meantime, he said.
“We should be exercising the utmost caution with this decision and not toying with peoples’ lives,” said Rockley. “This council is trying to do a compromise, but you can’t really compromise with a virus. If you’re not going to do prevention it’s going to spread.”
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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