City of North Battleford council wore masks for Monday's online meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

COVID-19 protocols

City, town temporarily mandating masking for their facilities

Sep 14, 2021 | 12:15 AM

Both the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford have temporarily mandated masking for their facilities due to increasing COVID-19 concerns in the province and the region.

At their meeting Monday, city council voted in favour of requiring staff and visitors to wear masks at city owned and city operated facilities. The protocol will be in effect starting Sept. 20. Council will review the policy at the latest by Jan. 20, 2022. For city facilities leased to third parties, the city will only recommend masking, as it doesn’t have the authority to mandate them in this case.

Council also indicated that if the province issued a new mandate on masking, the city would rescind its own masking mandate.

The city’s report indicated COVID-19 cases have increased dramatically within the province, and the delta variant seems to be the major contributor. As of Sept. 1, there were 44 cases of COVID-19 reported in North Battleford.

Council was supportive of the mandate given the number of COVID-19 cases in the province.

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Coun. Kelli Hawtin was opposed to the resolution for mandatory masking for the sole reason that she believes it is the province’s jurisdiction, not the municipality’s. She is supportive of masking but says the decision should be made by the province’s chief medical health officer, not the city.

“A masking decision is not ours to make,” she said.

She noted that masking is recommended at city facilities.

When Coun. Ross MacAngus spoke up he said he was torn in his decision for the same reason.

“I think the provincial government let us down,” he said. “They should be mandating this.”

Coun. Bill Ironstand said he was in favour of the city taking some action by implementing a masking protocol.

“If we can stop one [COVID-19] case, it’s a victory,” he said.

He noted that if people are medically exempt or are playing sports they would not be required to wear masks, as previously outlined by the province.

On the topic of vaccinations, council said the city is not able to consider any kind of proof of vaccination policy at this point in time, and would require more guidance on the issue.

Town mandating masking

The Town of Battleford is also implementing a temporary masking protocol for its facilities.

“Council had a special meeting Friday and decided to mandate masks for all our facilities starting today,” Town CAO Ash Alam told battlefordsNOW on Sept. 13.

Visitors and town staff will be required to wear a mask at the town’s facilities.

“That’s a mandate we [implemented] for the Town of Battleford because of a concern with the [delta] variant that is going at a very high rate at this moment,” Alam said.

He said council voted unanimously in favour of requiring masking at this time.

—

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow