Mayor, CEMA chief respond to new pandemic restrictions in Calgary

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and the chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, Tom Sampson say they welcome new restrictions imposed by the province this week to deal with surging COVID-19 cases.

On Monday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw imposed new limits on social gatherings in both Edmonton and Calgary.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Calgary zone had1,549 active cases.

Indoor and outdoor gatherings where "mixing and mingling" occurs, as opposed to events where people remainseated or stationary, are affected by the new rules.

Excluded activities includerestaurant dining, worship services, wedding ceremonies, conferences, funeral services and trade shows.

"I'm very pleased to hear about the province's latest restrictions, I think they make sense, because none of us want to lock down again. None of us," said Nenshi.

"For now, discipline is the best vaccine and that's what we need to focus on."

National tracing app

The mayor reiterated his calls for kindness and understanding as the pandemic carries on.

"You may disagree with your neighbours, you may have different points of view on this, but the rules are the rules," said Nenshi.

"If you want to complain about the mask bylaw, complain to me, don't complain to the 16-year-old behind the counter."

Nenshi and Sampson both said, once again, that they want the province to sign on to the national contact tracing app.

"Yesterday I heard that some of the ministers were mocking it as 'Trudeau's app.'Just stop it. We don't need that sort of partisanship here," said Nenshi, referring to reports on Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon's commentsin Tuesday's provincial question period.

The mayor said the provincial app doesn't work on most devices and "nobody is using it, at all."