Edmonton City Council Unanimously Extends Indoor Masks Mandate Indefinitely With No Repeal Thresholds

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The Edmonton mask’s term will be extended indefinitely without any threshold for repeal following a unanimous vote by the council on Tuesday.

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The indoor public places mask rule within the City of Edmonton was disabled Thursday under the regulations of the previous statutes. The deactivation of the rule would have been activated after 10 days of a case rate below the threshold of 100 per 100,000, which began last Monday. During the first COVID-19 update of the term on Tuesday, the council decided to remove the threshold and derogation date of December 31 linked to the rule and extend the statute unconditionally.

The move comes as the city’s active case rate dropped to 78.8 per 100,000 on Tuesday and cases dropped significantly to 818 across Edmonton during the fourth wave of the pandemic. But councilors cautioned against ending the ordinance at this time, with children still unable to get vaccinated and most surrounding municipalities with an active case rate still above 100.

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Even if the statute were repealed, the provincial mask mandate remains in effect, but city statute officials would not have been able to enforce the rule as they have during the pandemic. The provincial order could only be enforced by Alberta Health Services police or law enforcement officers. With the statute extension, the rule will remain in effect even if the provincial mandate is repealed, city manager Andre Corbould said.

Although the statute has been extended without a trigger for its end date, the council set parameters for when there will be an automatic discussion on the mandate, with some offering concerns that simply leaving it open without a set time to revisit would not do so. Be fair to the public. Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack filed a successful motion that will cause the city to create draft charter amendments with four conditions that will spark a council discussion on the mask rule if they are met. There will also be monthly reports to the council.

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If the charter amendments pass in December, discussion for a possible repeal would take place when the UCI’s capacity drops below 50% and declines in Edmonton, after the provincial mask mandate is repealed, two weeks after 80% of children between the ages of 5 to 11 have been fully vaccinated and at least 28 days with an active case rate below 100 per 100,000 in the Edmonton area.

Knack said that with the ordinance losing all the factors that triggered the repeal, it was important to have some kind of thresholds to keep the public informed about when the mandate will be revised.

“I think a fair criticism of the provincial government has been the lack of information exchange, the lack of public speaking about these things. So this is at least saying, ‘Hey, the next time we talk about it is when we hit these measures.’ It may not change it because who knows what the state of the world will be, but at least we will have something to talk about, ”Knack said of wanting to have something for Edmontonians to see as a light at the end of COVID. 19 tunnel. “I think it’s important for us to have something to come up with, something to look at.”

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Employee vaccination policy

Also Tuesday, Corbould provided an update to the council on the city’s employee vaccination policy. All employees were required to be fully vaccinated against the virus by October 31. Of the city’s current workforce, 93 percent have been fully vaccinated. For those without two doses, 660 employees have chosen to participate in the city’s rapid testing program, which requires them to pay for tests twice a week, and 41 people have opted for unpaid leave. Another 15 people have been granted medical exemptions.

About 400 daily trips in transit were eliminated as of last Monday as a result of the loss of 15 operators who chose to go off license.

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