WESTLOCK – Unless local COVID-19 cases spike dramatically, the Town of Westlock will not pursue a face covering bylaw.
In addition to rejecting a mask bylaw at their Aug. 10 meeting, councillors voted 6-0 to have the municipality continue its public education campaign aimed at keeping residents safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Since the outbreak there have only been a handful of confirmed cases in the Westlock area — the most recent came at the beginning of the month after a town employee tested positive for COVID-19 after a shift at the Rotary Spirit Centre Aug. 1.
“We have regular communication with the medical community and if our cases start to rise and it looks like it could become a more serious problem, then we may need to act a bit quicker. And in the meantime administration could be looking at some of the other bylaws and perhaps by that time the province takes some action (in regards to a face covering law),” said mayor Ralph Leriger.
“I think we’re all pretty much in agreement that we have little opportunity to enforce it (a bylaw). Maybe what our direction should be is to do a campaign like we did during the (initial COVID-19) lockdown, for lack of a better term.
“Certainly there’s lots of great information on the AHS website, the government’s website and we can provide some of that through our website and the newspaper. Let’s start with that.”
On July 29, Edmonton city council voted 10-3 to make masks mandatory in all public indoor spaces effective Aug. 1 — the bylaw applies to not just city-owned facilities, but privately-owned businesses. Face coverings are now required in places like retail stores, entertainment venues, rec centres and vehicles-for-hire.
Meanwhile, St. Albert city council voted 6-1 Aug. 4 to approve a bylaw mandating the use of masks in indoor public facilities, including private businesses, on public transit and in city-owned facilities. The new rules came into effect midnight Aug. 8.
Alberta Health Services encourages people to wear non-medical masks in public when it's difficult to maintain physical distancing of two metres.
“It’s multi-faceted. It’s about our economy, it’s about our thoughtfulness to our citizens. It’s about our demographics and the age of our population and our elders that are in our community facilities — our grandmas and grandpas, aunties and uncles. We have to take all that into consideration,” added Coun. David Truckey during discussions at the meeting.
See the full story in the Aug. 18 edition of Town and Country This Week.
