LETHBRIDGE, AB – A group of Lethbridge doctors say the city’s mask-wearing bylaw is no longer needed.
City Council is expected to vote again on Tuesday, June 29th whether or not to scrap the local face-covering bylaw once Alberta fully re-opens this Thursday.
In a letter coming to Council the four physicians, all specialists in respiratory and critical care medicine, say they’re calling on “city leadership to reconsider their recent council vote to extend masking requirements until December.”
The docs say current evidence points to a great downturn in the number of cases and positivity rate for COVID-19 infections and there is no need to continue with the current city-wide, mask-wearing bylaw.
The letter also states given this data, the doctors are “surprised at the local resistance to embrace provincial-led initiatives for reopening.”
A repeal bylaw going to City Council on Tuesday says maintaining the current mask bylaw beyond just July 1, 2021 will cause confusion and mixed messaging and create greater division with the community.
Drs. Eric Wilde, P. L. Oviatt, Josh Henkelman, and Kurt Olson say locally, we presently have fewer than five total admitted cases of COVID-19 related illness in the Lethbridge Regional Hospital. Services have fully resumed for all facets of routine medical care.
“Clinically speaking, we rely on hard data to inform our decision-making processes. The current decision by Lethbridge City Council regarding ongoing masking is not reflecting the current status of the pandemic within our province or city, medically speaking,” say the four doctors.
You can read the doctors’ full letter to City Council here: Doctors Mask Letter