Mayor says vaccinations key to easing restrictions

By Herald on May 26, 2021.

People line up outside an vaccination clinic last month in Edmonton. The province has announced reopening plans that follow targets for vaccination and hospitalization numbers. The Canadian Press FILE/Jason Franson

Dale Woodard – Lethbridge Herald

With the light appearing at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman stressed getting vaccinated as the key to making sure Albertans get there.

As the province announced its Alberta’s Open for Summer Plan Wednesday – easing restrictions in three stages as vaccination targets are reached and hospitalizations decline – Spearman stressed getting that first – and subsequently second – jab as the fast track to a return to normalcy.

“The opportunity is now before us,” said Spearman Wednesday afternoon. “We have a clear benchmark on how to get there and when we can anticipate a return to some sense of pre-pandemic normalcy. But we all need to do our part to get there and getting there, first and foremost, includes getting vaccinated and following the public health protocols while they’re in place.”

Stage 1 is slated to begin June 1 after 50 per cent of Albertans 12-and-over (born in 2009 or earlier) have received at least one dose and hospitalizations are below 800 and declining.

Anticipated to take effect in mid-June, Stage 2 will commence two weeks after 60 per cent of Albertans 12-and-over have received at least one dose and hospitalizations are below 500 and declining.

Expected to be effective in late-June or early-July, Stage 3 will kick in two weeks after 70 per cent of Albertans 12-and-over have received at least one dose, ideally lifting all restrictions, including ban on indoor social gatherings.

“The premier stressed that we need to meet certain goals, we need to do that together and vaccination is the way to do that,” said Spearman. 

“Vaccines are a critical way to limit the spread of COVID-19. They’re effective and they’re safe. More vaccines into more people will equal a faster reopening for businesses most affected by the public health orders. The premier made it clear today that if we get the numbers in order, we can move forward. If you want to be open for summer, then you need to get vaccinated. (Wednesday’s) announcement by the provincial government is certainly very encouraging and I hope we can reach the targets our premier is striving for.”

Spearman was asked that if the province lifts the mask bylaw in Stage 3, would the City follow suit.

The City’s mask bylaw has a sunset clause, allowing council to revisit the issue if they choose.

“At this point that’s a collective decision of council and it would depend on how comfortable we felt the situation is locally,” said Spearman. “The premier said (Wednesday) he wants one process across the province, but certainly if our numbers are high that would be a concern. So at this point the emphasis is going to be encouraging people to get vaccinated and to follow protocols that are in place and we’ll see how that affects the numbers going forward into the future.”

Spearman also addressed local events that would fall under the Stage 3 timeline, such as Canada and Whoop-Up Days in August.

Given it’s a little over a month away, Spearman didn’t anticipate any festivities for Canada Day.

“That takes a lot of planning and things are just not in place at the moment,” he said. “Canada Day is basically four-and-a-half weeks away. So we couldn’t possibly organize entertainment or fireworks or do those types of things in that short period of time.”

As for Whoop-Up Days in mid-August, Spearman said the City will have to play that one by ear.

“But I would imagine over the next few weeks as the numbers change we’ll begin reviewing what may or may not occur,” he said. “This is all new information (Wednesday) from the premier and now the municipalities will review that information and anticipate how we might respond.

“Those conversations will now take place and people will ask questions. There is always more to what is announced and people will ask for interpretations in specific situations. I’ll be talking with other municipalities later (Wednesday) afternoon. As we’ve seen in the past when we’ve done things like open up arenas there are additional things to consider. We’ll see how that plays out. I imagine more information will be released over the next few days and weeks.”

Still, Spearman said he was “cautiously optimistic” about meeting the province’s timeline.

“The reason why life is back to normal, more or less, in the U.S. is because of the ready-availability of the vaccines. They are now readily available in Canada and there are appointments that are waiting to be booked. There is appointment availability and I think it’s really positive. Certainly, people who want to go back to a normal life and want to shed their masks and want to travel, the way to do that is to get your vaccines.”

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