Residents no longer have to wear masks when they enter city-owned buildings now that provincial restrictions have been lifted but can still wear the face coverings if they choose.
During the Feb. 28 regular meeting, city council voted unanimously to lift the remaining pandemic-related restrictions, which focused on wearing masks in municipal buildings and at recreation venues such as Mosaic Place or Yara Centre. This action follows a decision council made on Feb. 14 to remove the need for showing proof of vaccination.
Both actions were made after the provincial government announced that it was removing most pandemic restrictions.
City administration encourages residents to continue to listen to the public health officer, who has said that COVID-19 infections have not reached their peak and hospitalizations and ICU numbers remain high, city manager Jim Puffalt said. Residents should also take the booster shots to reduce their risk of contracting the virus.
“City facilities will be mask-friendly, so anyone who wants to wear one is encouraged to do so,” he continued. “We also encourage our staff — especially front-line staff dealing with customers of unknown vaccination status — if they want to wear masks, they may do so. That’s voluntary for front-line staff and anybody else who feels uncomfortable.
“It’s not an offence to anyone; we’re trying to protect and ensure our employees are as safe as possibly can be.”
The municipality will continue with several measures designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Puffalt added. This includes encouraging staff to test when experiencing symptoms or stay home, keeping Plexiglas barriers in place, having hand sanitization stations available, continuing with enhanced cleaning, and promoting physical distancing.
In a media scrum afterward, Puffalt said that 94 per cent of city employees are fully vaccinated and fewer than 10 participated in weekly negative COVID-19 testing.
“We’re very proud of our employees. They all, as you know, over the last two years, worked through some difficult time and difficult measures we had to take,” he added. “When it came to making sure people were vaccinated so we could continue to provide service, they stepped up and they did what was necessary.
“So we can’t thank them enough. Over two years of pandemic and restrictions, I don’t think there was a day that we didn’t provide the service that people were expecting.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, March 14.
