BANFF – The Town of Banff’s outdoor mandatory mask bylaw has been expanded to include most of the downtown core and entire length of Banff Avenue in a bid to contain the COVID-19 spread.
At a meeting on Monday (Nov. 30), council made masks mandatory on the Bow River Bridge and north along the entire length of Banff Avenue to the townsite boundary. Portions of Lynx, Elk and Buffalo streets are also included in the mandatory mask zone.
Amendments to the bylaw come into effect on Thursday (Dec. 3) at noon and bylaw officers will be monitoring for compliance. Anyone found not wearing a mask in the required areas may be subject to a $150 fine.
Councillor Grant Canning successfully pushed for masks to be required on Elk Street outside the front entrance to Banff IGA, which can get busy with people bustling in and out of the grocery store.
“When I am walking down Banff Avenue, I think I get to downtown when I get to Elk Street, so I would like to incorporate the grocery store into that space,” Coun. Canning said.
“I would like us to consider expanding Lynx street in that as well … essentially the corner of Wolf Street where the Shell gas station is all the way down Lynx Street to the other grocery store … to Nesters.”
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic related to the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The Alberta government declared its second public health emergency on Nov. 24 and imposed enhanced public health measures to address the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
The following day, the Town of Banff declared a state of local emergency so it could supplement measures enacted by the province to help stop the rapid spread of the virus in Banff.
As of Monday (Nov. 23), there were 191 active COVID-19 cases in Banff and Lake Louise. Since the pandemic began there have been a total of 275 cases, of which 84 people have recovered.
