BANFF – Banff council voted to forego bringing back a temporary indoor mask bylaw, but set a vaccination rate target for the community to achieve they hope will incentivize people to get their COVID-19 shot.
Town council passed a motion that will see them potentially revisit the temporary bylaw for their Sept. 13 meeting unless at least 8,100 residents are fully vaccinated or 9,500 residents get their first vaccine dose.
The motion, brought forward by Coun. Grant Canning, was seen as a compromise after the original motion of having an indoor mask bylaw was defeated by council.
“If you don’t want to wear a mask, and we know a lot of our community does not want to, maybe this will provide a bit more incentive to individuals,” he said.
Rather than having a temporary bylaw, it sets a target for residents to continue to get vaccinated or potentially have an indoor mask bylaw brought back.
He highlighted with roughly 7,600 residents double vaccinated and about 8,700 with at least one shot, the Town is on their way to the goal.
“We know vaccinations is the way to get out of this. … The idea of masks tying that to vaccination very well might be an effective tool in getting residents who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated,” Canning said.
Coun. Peter Poole also urged they “go beyond individual responsibility” and attempt to also include businesses and employers in helping to push for more people to get vaccinated.
“If we can somehow engage them to be part of it then I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
The Town of Banff has also instituted mandatory vaccines for employees and continue to require to have staff wear masks while in Town facilities, CAO Kelly Gibson said.
Coun. Ted Christensen was the lone vote of opposition, who had earlier in the meeting wanted to extend the indoor mask bylaw to also include outdoors as well.
His proposed motion to have outdoor masking for visitors and require employers and employees to wear masks in the workplace unless fully vaccinated or exempted was defeated 4-1 by council, with only himself voting in support.
He emphasized that with case counts climbing, “business will suffer if more cases spread.”
The vote to bring back the temporary indoor bylaw was defeated 3-2, with Couns. Poole and Christensen in favour and Couns. Canning and Brian Standish and Mayor Corrie DiManno against the bylaw. Coun. Chip Olver was absent from the meeting.
The decision came only hours after the province had announced they were pulling back from their intent of removing all public health restrictions on Aug. 16 and delay the move until at least Sept. 27.
The decision will have mandatory masking remain for public transit, taxis and ride shares, as well as mandatory isolation for 10 days for people with COVID-19 symptoms or who received a positive test. Testing at assessment centres will also remain an option for symptomatic people, but not for asymptomatic individuals.
While contact tracing will remain, they are not returning to notifying close contacts on an exposure to COVID-19.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, health minister Tyler Shandro and Premier Jason Kenney have said the original decision to remove restrictions was based on data and science, but several medical groups and federal health minister Patty Hadju questioned the move.
At the Aug. 13 announcement, Hinshaw said they reviewed data from Alberta and other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and the United States in making the decision, but they did not release the specific information.
“Through the pandemic, we have monitored the situation closely and adapted our response as necessary,” Hinshaw said. "Reviewing data from Alberta and across the globe in the past few weeks has led me to a point where I feel that a pause on the next changes is the best way forward.”
Medical associations across the province and country publicly questioned and derided the original decision. The Alberta Medical Association suggested the province should wait until 85 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated before loosening public health restrictions.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said Thursday (Aug. 12) Canada was in its fourth wave and new cases were largely being driven by the Delta variant.
The province also announced guidance on the upcoming school year, which will see a return to in-person classes and no restrictions on in-person learning or extracurricular activities.
On Sept. 7, students from Grade 7 and up, teachers and staff will also be eligible to receive vaccine doses. However, masking will not be required except for on school buses.
Council had been presented with an update on COVID-19 cases in the community at their Aug. 9 meeting, which led to them calling the special meeting.
Council received 81 letters from community members and an additional nine came in after the deadline to be included in the agenda. They represented the differing viewpoints on what has become divisive issue in not only Banff, but the province.
Banff removed their mask bylaw at a June 30 meeting and it officially ended on July 1 to coincide with the province’s move to end COVID-19 restrictions.
The provincial move put municipalities in the difficult position of maintaining their mask bylaws, which would be difficult to enforce by local bylaw or police officers, or removing them.
Alison Gerrits, the Town’s director of community services, gave council an overview of COVID-19 statistics locally, provincially and nationally.
As of Aug. 11, Banff had the highest active case count per 100,000 people in the province at 721. In Alberta, the average per 100,000 people is 93 cases, while Canada is 39 cases per 100,000 people.
Since the beginning of the pandemic up to Aug. 11, Banff has had 928 confirmed cases and one death.
The Town has regularly had the highest case counts in Alberta based on the per 100,000 statistic. The issue is further compounded by the town being one of the more popular tourism communities in the country, leading to thousands of people coming and going on a daily basis.
According to data, 8,965 people in Banff and ID No. 9 have received their first dose, while 7,369 are fully immunized, meaning 18 per cent of residents who have received their first dose have yet to get their second.
Alberta Health Sciences estimated the population of the Town of Banff and ID No. 9 at 13,451, but the most recent census data in 2016 estimated the region's population at roughly 9,500. The transient nature of the area's population, with many people being seasonal workers, makes it difficult to calculate a specific population.
While incoming workers may be vaccinated, AHS doesn't have the specific vaccination status of out-of-province or out-of-country residents. If they contract COVID-19, it is made more difficult due to those people possibly being recorded as a positive case in their home jurisdiction rather than the Town of Banff or ID No. 9.
New COVID-19 cases have been increasing throughout the province, with there now being more than 4,000 active cases.
** Correction: A previous version of the story stated 82 per cent of residents were fully vaccinated. However, due to the changing population of residents in the Town of Banff and ID No. 9, a more accurate statement would be 18 per cent of residents who received their first dose have yet to get their second dose. The transient population in Banff and ID No. 9 leads to difficulty in calculating accurate population and COVID-19 statistics. **
