At their regular meeting, Council approved the extension to all three of the face covering bylaws in Red Deer. Council amended the recommendations on the floor to align the timing of the bylaws with provincial face covering measures.
“We recognize that there is some overlap in having municipal face covering bylaws with a Provincial mandate in place, however, it is imperative to have the flexibility to amend our community health protocols on the local level based on the state of the pandemic in our community,” said Mayor Tara Veer.
The bylaws approved today include:
- Transit Face Covering Bylaw 3654/B-2021 (enacted on August 17, 2020)
- Face Coverings in Indoor Public Places and Public Vehicles Bylaw 3656/B-2021 (enacted on November 23, 2020)
- Face Coverings in City Civic Facilities 3657/B-2021 (enacted on November 23, 2020)
“When the Province removes its face covering mandate, we will gauge where our community is at in the pandemic and bring the bylaw recommendations back to City Council for consideration,” said Karen Mann, EOC Director. “Our Emergency Operations Centre will continue to monitor the situation to ensure we are minimizing the spread, and keeping our community safe and healthy.”
Council also approved amendments to allow face shields as an approved form of face coverings in all three bylaws. The Provincial mandate does not accept face shields as a permitted alternative to a mask. Provincial health order rules on masks are enforced over the bylaw when in place.
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
The City of Red Deer