Today, City Council took the necessary step to mandate the wearing of masks inside all public space as of August 1. This wasn’t an easy decision; when our Council meeting started on Monday, we were only going to be making this mandate on Transit.

But after an amazing presentation by Dr. Raj Bhardwaj coupled with the doubling of our active cases over the past week, 12 members of your City Council were convinced.

We’re doing this for a lot of reasons.

Firstly, we’re doing this to ensure public safety. Wearing a mask won’t protect you as the wearer, but it will protect others from you. And when we create that phalanx, together, we’re all keeping each other safe, and that improves our strength and resiliency.

Another reason for this mandate is in the name of the economy. Calgary has an unemployment rate above 15%, with too many job losses, business and personal bankruptcies happening as a result of the pandemic.

The shutdown our economy faced in response to the threat posed by COVID-19 was necessary to flatten the curve. But it’s so, so critical that we do not allow the virus to spread to the point where the Province is forced to do that again.

If you’re concerned about the economy, the answer is simple – wear a mask!

Finally, we did this because we have to act fast. With schools set to re-open in September, Calgarians need to start to see results.

Case numbers are usually about two weeks behind action, as we saw when the lockdown was put in place. There are only six weeks until school starts, so we need to show progress if we want to know our students are safe and if we want to provide certainty for families.

No one takes this decision lightly. Those calling for it are looking at the data and making decisions based on our collective health. We have an opportunity to get this right, and we know this is how to do it.

This bylaw will come into effect for Aug 1, but you can start to make the decision to protect your community today by wearing a mask.