CHAT News File Photo

By Alex McCuaig

At least three councillors in support

Time is ticking for mask bylaw, says doctor; council to meet Wednesday

Nov 30, 2020 | 5:26 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Monday started with a release of a letter signed by more than 400 Hatters – including doctors, nurses, business owners, educators and clergy –asking city council to hold an emergency debate on a mask bylaw.

By the end of the day, that’s what happened.

An emergency council meeting will be held Wednesday and may bring the end of Medicine Hat’s status as the last mid-sized municipality without a mask bylaw in the country.

“Truthfully, this needs to be debated as soon as humanly possible,” said Coun. Jamie McIntosh, who says he will be supporting the mask bylaw.

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Councillors Julie Friesen and Phil Turnbull also told CHAT News on Monday that they too will be supporting the bylaw.

Mayor Ted Clugston says while the support for the bylaw among councillors is likely enough to see it passed, he has some concerns about what will happen next.

“What I do fear is that if one is passed on Wednesday, you are going to hear the other side get is going to get much more vocal,” said Clugston. “They may ramp up efforts to make it uncomfortable for those that are.”

But a co-author of the letter from residents, Medicine Hat Regional Hospital ER Dr. Paul Parks, says waiting any longer to pass a mask bylaw can result in lasting damage to resident’s health, local businesses and back up medical procedures in the health system strained by dealing with additional COVID cases.

“As more people are wearing masks in public when they can’t be socially distanced, when you hit numbers of 70, 80, 90 per cent then it becomes effective and it decreases transmission and protects our whole community,” said Parks. “So time is really ticking on this and it’s really important if there is small things we can do, the sooner we can do them the more effect they will have down the road.”

It’s a message Fifth Avenue United Church Rev. Dave Pollard agrees with and signed his name to the letter.

Pollard went as far as citing the Bible, its second commandment and the need to “love thy neighbour as thyself.”

“My goal has been to say what is the most loving and pastoral we can do for each other in this moment,” said Pollard. “A lot of it is sending cookies and baking but some of it is doing those things which we may think are hard like putting a mask on. Like giving up something of our own responsibilities for the greater good.”

Pollard says in-person services at the church have been suspended until likely the New Year to help reduce the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus.

The emergency council meeting start at 5 p.m. at City Hall on Wednesday.