Council Imposes Mask Mandate - Says Province Should Be Lead On Issue
The growing numbers of Delta variant COVID - 19 cases has resulted in the City of Moose Jaw instituting a mask mandate in all City owned facilities as well as Moose Jaw Transit effective this coming Monday September 20th.
It was a decision Council did not like to make with several council members stating it was up to the Province to show leadership on the issue.
The move came about after a presentation and a plea from Saskatchewan’s medical health officers for the City to institute the move due to the veracity of the provincially now prevalent COVID - 19 Delta variant.
It was a plea that Council agreed with instituting the mask mandate in a 5 - 1 vote with Councillor Kim Robinson the lone councillor opposing the move.
THE PLEA
Dr Brandon Thorpe, chief of family medicine for zones southwest one, two and three, asked Council to take measures to reduce the spread of COVID - 19. Measures if not taken would mean no Moose Jaw Warriors home games.
“I am also here to plead to you on behalf of the physicians of Moose Jaw to ask you about masking in public facilities. The Moose Jaw Warrior team is very dependent of the support of the public and they require physicians to be at games in order for the team to play. If we do not have a masking mandate at Mosaic Place and if we don’t have vaccines in the place the physicians will not be able to attend the games then the team can’t play,” Dr Thorpe said.
“That is a huge financial impact for the city, for the team. This is not a threat. This is a reality,” he said, adding “Swift Current is in the same position their physicians will not be providing any services for the team if the city does not make the changes there as well.”
Dr Thorpe said the masking mandate would be a good first step but also at the same time the City should move over time to a proof of vaccination to be in Mosaic Place. Proof of vaccination is often referred to under the term Vaccine Passport.
“We would not like to be the outliers. Right now we are the only two clubs in the Western Hockey League, the American Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League that do not have these mandates in place.”
Dr Thorpe then said he would like to see mandates extended into the City’s other facilities.
“I would to see the same extension into all of the rinks for all of the kids in town as it is your kids, your grandkids who are playing these sports so I am just looking out for their safety.”
COUNCIL DISCUSSION
“I just want to thank you for reaching out this weekend and coming here tonight and expressing your concern about what is going on,” Acting Dawn Luhning said.
As part of that weekend lobbying Council was presented with two letters not in the original Council package - one letter was the position statement by the Province’s Medical Health Officers about the rising COVID - 19 cases since the removal of restrictions - the other was a letter signed by 23 doctors to both Moose Jaw MLAs asking them for help and enable any public health measures under their jurisdictions.
Councillor Crystal Froese would point out in later in the discussion the fact 23 doctors had signed the letter to the two Moose Jaw MLAs.
A copy of the letter is below.
“You need to know in this acting position I have been on calls with the city mayors over the last couple of weeks and as I expressed to Dr Thorpe over the weekend I have made it clear…how concerned we are by the non-direction from the Province in this health situation given health is a responsibility of the Province,” acting mayor Luhning said.
“We are all not happy in the province’s non-leadership in any of this”
Councillor Crystal Froese thanked the doctors for attending Council - either through video or in person - to give “the facts” about the virus.
Councillor Froese asked what rate of immunization was needed to return to some degree of normalcy based upon the COVID - 19 Delta variant. the response was immunization had to be well above 85 percent of the population vaccinated to provide some sort of herd immunity.
Despite vaccination being seen as a way to reach herd immunity Council was also told that given the numbers of people not being vaccinated that a layered or Swiss cheese model of preventive measures was needed. Part of that Swiss cheese model included masking indoors.
“There is a lot of COVID fatigue, I understand that. But just closing our eyes won’t take it away,” Dr Torr medical health officer for Moose Jaw and area said. “It is still here and we have to emphasize to people that people are suffering, people are dying.”
“I personally believe people should be getting the vaccine and wearing masks…it doesn’t matter where I go I put on a mask. I want to protect other people,” Councillor Doug Blanc said, adding “I also want to protect the businesses. I don’t want to see the Warriors not have a game here. I don’t want to see the curling shut down. We need our facilities open.”
It needs to be noted Councillor Blanc was not wearing a mask at the meeting.
Councillor Jamey Logan said that the issue was a hot button issue with councillors receiving calls and e-mails on both sides of the issue, each side making good points.
“I never thought we would be put in this position to be honest with you. However here we are and we were put in this chair to lead this community and I think that is what we have to do,” Councillor Logan said.
He said businesses could not be shut down again if they were going to survive “and if these numbers keep rising that is what is going to be happening. So I think although health is not our mandate I think we have to do something in the buildings we control.”
Acting Mayor Luhning said she had been receiving e-mails for and against mandatory masking but at the present time she felt a masking mandate was necessary “until we get some direction from the Province…but I think this a good start.”
“I struggle why the Province isn’t stepping up and helping us with this decision making process,” Councillor Froese said.
“It is probably not enough but I won’t support a vaccine passport at this time,” Councillor Heather Eby said. “There are just so many moving parts to that. Financial, well even if I think about a Warriors’ hockey game proof of vaccine being required and I think about the person at the door who would take that proof of vaccine is not getting paid enough for that kind of situation.”
“People want to attend all kinds of events at this time and if it is a mask that will get them in there I think they will understand”
LONE VOICE OF OPPOSITION
Councillor Kim Robinson said he opposed the mask mandate as the present statistics do not support enacting one.
“Councillor Eby touched on some of the things I was concerned about. Does this motion have any age parameters and I don’t think it is a secret that I think this is going in the wrong direction,” Councillor Robinson said, adding “when we look at the statistics from the Saskatchewan Dashboard as they call it we have four active cases or hospitalizations and 36 active cases in our area. From what it says on there we have the second lowest rate in Saskatchewan.”
Councillor Robinson said the Province’s web-sites statistics were opposite to what the medical health officers were telling Council.
“Whose statistics should I believe? The goal posts move all of the time with this. I won’t support the motion, I get conflicting information,” he said.
“I don’t see any credible data that says masking a healthy person is helping anybody.”
“If you are sick wear a mask but to mandate it then I am not going to support it at all.”
THE DECISION
The decision temporarily left Council perplexed on what parameters the mandate should take.
”That is the problem with this we don’t know what we should implement as restrictions or what we should be doing. Thank you Mr Province, Premier Moe and your Minister give us some direction. And on that matter Saskatoon is different than Regina, PA is different than from Warman,” Acting Mayor Luhning said.
“We are all out here willy nilly trying to protect our citizens when you our MLAs should...our Premier, our Ministers should be standing up and saying the health care system is stretched. They need help. They need to flatten the curve again”
Council took two votes - an amendment to the original motion to allow Administration to define the mandate’s parameters and a second vote to approve the amended motion.
The votes on both motions was 5 -1 with Councillor Robinson opposing both the amendment and the amended motion.
POST MEETING NEWS SCRUM
In the post meeting news scrum Acting Mayor Luhning reiterated the point it should be up to the Province to enact any mandate and not a decision left up to the City to make.
“Honestly what else are we going to do? When you hear from the number doctors that we have heard from and me personally I knew it was coming we were going to here from them you know it is not getting any better. I am not happy we had to make that decision but I think it was the right thing to do to try to keep our citizens in the City safe,” Acting Mayor Luhning said."
“I understand there are going to be people not happy with us but I think that there is going to be something from maybe the Province helping us out a little bit so I just believe it was the right thing to do,” she said.
Acting Mayor Luhning said the Larger Cities Group had been in contact with the Minister “and expressed our concern. Just our concerns that they (the Province) are not giving the cities any direction.”
Asked by MJ Independent if the letters sent to Council over the weekend had an effect on Council’s decision Acting Mayor Luhning momentarily did not know and then said it had an impact on Council’s final decision.
“I don’t know, I mean. Sure it does. When you get information from the physicians and health officers that are working on the ground sure that is going to influence it a bit. Because I believe they are the ones experiencing the worst of this.”
“I think that we are all in this together. I think that whether we are vaccinated or not we should consider there are people with lower immune systems and you should wear a mask…personally it is not an issue for me. If I walk into a business or I go to walk on the door and there is a sign on the door saying masks are mandatory (I put one on)…they own that business they can make the rules right,” she said.
“I understand the people who are going to have an issue with it, I just don’t know what to tell them.”