Face Coverings Bylaw Update (March 2022)
Update: Since posting this blog earlier on March 1st, the provincial government has since decided to introduce amendments to the Municipal Government Act to prevent a city-specific bylaw related to masks. This is a change in direction from the provincial government which previously encouraged municipalities to make their own decisions related to masks. The change in direction is quite abrupt and would not have been needed if the provincial government had simply provided the data, including the recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer of Health, to all Albertans.
Transparency in decision-making is critical to bringing people together. I’m very troubled with the direction the provincial government is taking as it seems to run counter to the relationship that the provincial government is seeking from the federal government. We all have the privilege to serve the same people and working together is going to be far more effective when trying to address complex issues. I hope that one day, there will be a true partnership between all orders of government.
Although the Face Coverings Bylaw will no longer be relevant once these measures are introduced by the provincial government, I would still encourage you to read through the post below as it covers some important questions about what "learning to live with COVID” means for all of us.
On March 8th, Edmonton City Council will be discussing our current face coverings bylaw. I’ve written a number of posts on this but if you haven’t read my post from February 17th, please take a few minutes to review that before reading the rest of this post. The purpose of this post is to outline some of the factors that should be considered in advance of repealing the face coverings bylaw, keeping the current bylaw in place, or modifying the bylaw.
As noted in my post from February 17th, I don't believe any meaningful information has been presented to help us understand what 'living with COVID' actually means. The following questions are some of the most important questions that I'd like to have our Chief Medical Officer of Health and provincial government answer.
1) Are additional waves of COVID infections expected? If yes, does the available data suggest they will mimic the current wave or will they be less severe?
2) If they are expected to mimic the current wave, would we expect a similar number of deaths? If not, what are we expecting going forward?
3) Would the retention of any public health measures help with addressing the worst outcomes (ex: hospitalizations, death, etc.)? If yes, to what degree?
4) How do masks specifically fit within addressing the worst outcomes? What is the anticipated outcome if masks were continued to be worn?
I feel these are important questions that all of us should have answers to. I'll be asking the Edmonton Zone Chief Medical Officer of Health these questions at the meeting on March 8th.
To be clear, I want to stop wearing a mask. I've still never met a single person who enjoys it and everyone wants to stop wearing one as soon as possible. I want people to make their own individual risk assessment, that's why I'm so interested in the answers to the questions above.
To date, I don’t believe there has been any data shared that suggests the next wave, assuming there is one, will be any different than the current wave. The current wave has caused many deaths. Last week, there were more reported COVID-related deaths than we see from the flu in an entire year. If that is truly going to be the new normal and there is no way to change that outcome, then while I don't love the outcome, at least I would know there aren't any actions that we can take as a community to help prevent the higher number of deaths which disproportionately impact seniors. I think we owe it to seniors to at least understand that reality before removing every public health measure.
It's also possible that wearing masks might only help reduce the number of deaths by a small percentage. At that point, we have to have an honest but difficult conversation as a society to determine if those additional deaths per year are acceptable considering the impacts of different public health measures.
Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario.
If wearing masks indoors can save 1% more lives, approximately 20 lives per year in Alberta, should we continue to wear masks? I don't actually know my personal comfort level with that but we don't even have the data to make a more informed decision. The provincial government has clearly made a choice but we don't know the rationale behind their choice. I think we should understand that so we can all understand the consequences of our actions.
A 1% reduction in deaths might not be enough of a change to justify the continuation of this public health measure. But what if it's 50% or 75%, which works out to approximately 1,000 additional Albertan lives saved at 50% or 1,250 lives at 75%? Does that change our thinking as individuals and as a society? We should probably have an informed conversation about something this significant.
We need to weigh that information against the mental health and economic impacts of wearing a mask. We also need to consider the impact to frontline retail and hospitality workers who are often bearing the brunt of the small percentage of people who have been disrespectful.
I don't want to keep wearing a mask. I want to stop wearing it today but I'd like to know what happens to the broader community when that choice is made. If there is a reasonable chance hundreds of more Albertans can be saved through my actions, that would be very important information for me to know. If that won’t provide a meaningful impact, that would also be very important information to know and would make my decision easier.
We also have to understand if the current trigger of 28 consecutive days of cases being below 100/100,000 people is still a reasonable metric to use if there was a desire to maintain the current bylaw. Testing is not being done to the same extent as before which can make it challenging to use that specific metric when making decisions.
The City of Edmonton has released a survey that will close on March 7th. The results of the survey will be shared with council during the meeting the next day. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey as it provides us with valuable feedback.
This is a complex issue. I’ve received a wide range of feedback. Like with most complex decisions, there isn’t an easy solution. In my previous blog post I concluded with asking people to show empathy and I will make that same request here.
No matter the decision on March 8th, some people will be disappointed. Part of why I write longer blog posts is because I want to provide people with as much information as possible. I want to make sure you understand how I approach an issue and I want to get your feedback, even if we end up disagreeing. I look forward to continuing to hear from you and hope you have found this post useful as we get ready to discuss a complex topic that many people are very passionate about.
