Saskatoon city council votes to drop mask mandate for leisure facilities, civic buildings starting next week
CBC
Saskatoon city council is ending mask mandates at leisure facilities and civic buildings beginning Monday, April 4.
Mandatory masking will remain on buses for at least the month of April.
Ward 2 Coun. Hilary Gough voted to keep masks on buses, saying transit is a unique space.
"The reality is that we do have quite a number of cases and hospitalizations and ongoing deaths [and] that we don't rush to remove the level of protection that is within our control," Gough said.
Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill said masking should stay on buses because of poor air filtration and tight spaces.
"Transit is an essential service for many citizens in Saskatoon," Hill said. "There are no other choices for them to move about the city, whether they are grocery shopping, getting to work, getting to school, or just the daily necessities of life."
Administration had recommended that masking be optional for all civic facilities and transit.
Pamela Goulden-McLeod, the city's director of emergency management, said local medical health officers supported removing mask mandates on buses.
"Along with the fact that we are still encouraging masking on transit and will be providing masks on transit," Goulden-McLeod told council.
Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton was one of three councillors that wanted to see the ask mandate dropped on buses.
"There hasn't been a real time when we haven't listened to the medical health officer from the beginning [of the pandemic]," Kirton said. "So I would ask then why would we change that now? You have heard from the medical health officer who supports lifting of masks from transit."
Council will revisit the transit masking policy in April.
Council also finalized its policy regarding speed zones for schools and playgrounds, confirming speed limits of 30 km/h in school zones from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST year-round.
It also voted to extend those speed limits and times to some playgrounds, and to remove them from most high schools.
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