Sturgeon County council has moved to extend its face covering bylaw until next April in response to the rising tide of the pandemic.
County council voted 6-1 (Coun. Neal Comeau opposed) for first reading of revisions to its mandatory face covering bylaw Nov. 24.
The bylaw, first passed Aug. 20 and currently in effect, requires everyone in Sturgeon County to wear a face covering whenever they are in an indoor or enclosed public space or public vehicle. It includes numerous exemptions and bans harassment of anyone covered by an exemption who does not wearing a face covering. Anyone who violates the bylaw can be fined $100.
Sturgeon County had 16 active cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 20 when this law was first approved, said corporate services director Jesse Sopko. As of Nov. 24, it had 94, or roughly six times as many.
The county’s cases per 100,000 stood at 336.1 as of Nov. 24, Alberta Health reported – a roughly 2.5-times increase from Nov. 12, which was when the province initially brought in new pandemic control measures.
County commissioner Reegan McCullough said there had been two known cases of COVID-19 amongst county workers since the start of the pandemic, neither of which spread amongst staff or required department shutdowns. In addition to the ongoing use of facemasks and additional sanitation, he had directed all non-essential personnel to work from home for the foreseeable future.
Sopko recommended two changes to the bylaw in light of these circumstances.
First, council should change the bylaw’s expiry date from Dec. 31, 2020, to April 30, 2021.
Second, it should rework the law’s “on/off” switch. The law currently turns on whenever the province puts the county under a COVID-19 watch status and turns off when it spends 14 consecutive days not under such a watch. Since the province had effectively stopped using the “watch” status as of Nov. 24 (all regions were listed as either “open” or “enhanced”), Sopko said the bylaw should instead kick in when the county was not under open status (under 50 active cases per 100,000 people) and kick out when it was under open status for 14 days in a row.
Sopko emphasized face coverings are a complement and not a replacement for other safety measures such as hand washing, physical distancing, and staying home when sick when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Coun. Dan Derouin supported the changes, saying the county had to step up as the province had not done enough to stop the pandemic.
“We’ve got to protect ourselves.”
Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said people had become “caught in an ideological debate” over masks between personal freedoms and physical, mental and economic health, which was unfortunate, as nations such as Taiwan had shown how we have the technology and policies available to have a thriving economy while still controlling COVID-19.
“Currently it would seem people’s rights and freedoms are ranking higher than the health of individuals and the economy,” she said.
Comeau opposed the changes, arguing face coverings are a federal and provincial responsibility.
“This (face coverings) is not the magic pill that’s going to fix this problem. We’re seeing COVID fatigue and people not social distancing with gathering sizes increasing,” he said.
In an email, Comeau said people should not use masks as the “gold standard” to keep themselves well, and should instead focus on physical distancing, small group sizes, hand-washing and other measures.
In an interview, Sturgeon County protective services manager Pat Mahoney said the county had issued zero fines and two warnings under the face-covering bylaw as of Nov. 24.
The bylaw returns for second reading Dec. 8.
The county discussion came prior to Premier Jason Kenney's announcement of further COVID-19 restrictions Tuesday afternoon.
