As the second wave of COVID-19 continues, people will not be required to wear masks at civic facilities in Vancouver after city councillors voted to encourage face coverings rather than make them mandatory.
Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung’s original motion called for mandatory face coverings in civic facilities. Children under the age of five would have been exempt, as would people with disabilities and people with underlying medical conditions that may prevent them from wearing masks.
“The medical community has not seen this virus before,” Kirby-Yung said. “It’s different in the strength and resiliency with which it’s coming back in Phase 2. We know that professionals are saying that and they’re adapting their advice and I think we need to follow suit.”
Kirby-Yung’s proposed motion was replaced with one by Coun. Christine Boyle to “encourage” face coverings.
A coalition of doctors, academics and other health-care professionals penned a letter to city council urging them to support Kirby-Yung’s proposed motion.
“We understand it is not perfect, nothing is perfect or we’d be rid of this by now,” family physician Dr. Anna Wolak said.
“To add another layer of protection can only help.”
The issue has taken on new urgency after hundreds of anti-maskers and COVID-19 deniers held a protest in downtown Vancouver over the weekend.
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Many in the crowd espoused myths that wearing a mask is harmful because it causes a person to breathe in carbon dioxide or bacteria or causes cancer.
— With files from Simon Little