Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has shut down a request from the United Nurses of Alberta to reimpose a mask mandate in indoor spaces.
The nurses group made the demand after Alberta Health Services announced an emergency situation at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton following a surge of kids with respiratory viruses.
Smith said she is aware of the situation, but her government has been clear that anyone who feels comfortable wearing a mask should “feel free to do so.”
“I always appreciate the input of our frontline workers, but we do support choice,” Smith said.
United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith issued an open letter to Smith on Tuesday, as the intensive care unit at the Stollery reached 100% capacity.
“For the sake of Alberta’s children, and all Albertans, it is imperative that our government cease treating this situation as if it were a political inconvenience and address it immediately as the public health crisis that it is,” she wrote.
The letter said a mask mandate would be easy for people to comply with, but also effective to reduce the spread of seasonal viruses “influenza, COVID-19, and RSV.”
During the United Conservative Party leadership race, Smith promised to do away with Covid-19 restrictions like mask and vaccine mandates.
Last month, Smith made good on her promise to ban masks in schools through regulatory changes. She also announced that she won’t permit schools to move classes entirely online anymore, saying parents and students have told her they desire a regular school environment.
In the summer, former Chief Medical Health Officer Deena Hinshaw announced that mandatory masks in public transit, rideshares and taxes would be lifted as of August 19.
The province also lifted the remaining pandemic restrictions that day, saying people who test positive for Covid-19 would not be mandated to quarantine anymore and Albertans with covid symptoms will not be asked to get tested, but to stay at home until they feel better.
