Niagara stops short of making masks mandatory, despite councillor concerns
Medical officer of health says order should be political, but warns it will be tough to enforce
While expecting an influx of Toronto tourists when Niagara businesses finally reopen Friday, the Region has yet to make wearing masks mandatory.
Responding to concerns from several regional councillors at this week’s public health and social services committee meeting about a potential increase in COVID-19 cases associated with visitors from the GTA, Niagara acting chief medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said he continues to recommend wearing masks.
Hirji, however, said trying to make wearing masks mandatory would be “effectively unenforceable,” and a “meaningless order” that would set a bad precedent for the public health department.
“When issuing an order to deprive someone of some element of their freedom, it needs to be done for a very good reason and it needs to be watertight. The public health science behind that needs to be absolutely solid,” Hirji said. “I don’t think this has reached the level of threshold where public health would do an order.”
Several committee members remained concerned about the situation, including St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik. “When the economy opens this week and we’re faced with people coming into Niagara because they’re looking for a staycation to get away from wherever they’re getting away from and we’re not mandating masks … you’re looking at a significant opportunity for transmission that would be out of region transmissions coming into the community,” Sendzik said.
“If we don’t take the appropriate measures now, we’ll be looking at our own community and saying how did this happen. It was because we decided that personal freedoms were more important than protecting members of our community.
“If we’re not mandating stuff like this we have only ourselves to blame.”
Hirji said making masks mandatory should be a political decision.
“I think an order by an unelected public health official like myself would really shortcircuit that kind of due process that is really important in our society,” Hirji said, adding such a bylaw could come from either local municipal councils or from Niagara Region.
Sendzik’s concerns were echoed by several councillors.
Port Colborne Coun. Barbara Butters said a mandatory order would help protect transit passengers as well as workers in the community.
“It really does kind of bother me. I’m hearing stories out in the public — even with employers who don’t take this pandemic seriously at all. They call it a ‘planned-demic,’” she said. “They actually discourage employees from wearing masks. It’s just an awful way to run your business.
“If there was an order in place, it would lend real credibility and strength to what is now a recommendation and people can either do it or not,” she added.
West Lincoln Coun. Albert Witteveen said Wellingtondufferin-guelph Public Health has issued an order requiring use of masks in that community, and asked Hirji to look into the order implemented there.
The Wellington-dufferinguelph order allows exceptions for children under the age of two, people with medical reasons that prevent them from wearing one and people who have difficulty breathing. It also allows face coverings that could include a homemade mask or scarf and does not apply to outdoor patios.
Witteveen said there is no other way to prevent the risk of infection from people visiting the region.
“There is no fence. There is no gate stopping and checking these people,” he said.
Wainfleet Mayor Kevin Gibson agreed with Hirji regarding challenges enforcing mandatory masks.
“Compliance is not going to be what you think it is … There are certainly going to be a large number of people who are not going to comply,” he said.