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Today, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil and the Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, issued an order that effective July 31, masks will be mandatory in most public indoor spaces.
A press release detailing the order explained that:
Indoor public places include:
— retail businesses
— shopping centres
— personal services businesses such as hair and nail salons, spas, body art facilities, except during services that require removing a mask
— restaurants and bars, except while people are eating or drinking
— places of worship or faith gatherings
— places for cultural or entertainment services or activities such as movie theatres, concerts and other performances
— places for sports and recreational activities such as a gym, pool or indoor tennis facility, except while doing an activity where a mask cannot be worn
— places for events such as conferences and receptions
— municipal or provincial government locations offering services to the public
— common areas of tourist accommodations such as lobbies, elevators and hallways
— common areas of office buildings such as lobbies, elevators and hallways, but not private offices
— public areas of a university or college campus, such as library or student union building, but not classrooms, labs, offices or residences
— train or bus stations, ferry terminals and airportsChildren under two are exempt, as well as children aged two to four when their caregiver cannot get them to wear a mask. People with a valid medical reason for not wearing a mask are exempt. Schools, daycares and day camps continue to follow their reopening plans.
A previously issued order mandating mask use on public transportation (buses, taxis, etc) is effective today.
“I firmly believe most Nova Scotians will do the right thing” and wear a mask, said Strang. He stressed that Public Health is taking a “positive, supportive approach” and is not focused on enforcement; “taking a strong, heavy-handed enforcement approach will not work in something like that,” he said.
Nova Scotia has gone nine days without a new known case of COVID-19, but the source of infection for the positive case that was announced on July 15 is still not known.
Strang said the mask order is intended to get people in the practice of wearing a mask before a second wave of COVID infections comes to Nova Scotia, which he said he expects to happen sometime this fall.
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Personally, I am very worried about the conditioning now going on by the NS Government and the McNeil/Strang Covid Tag Team. Looks like just a setup for more and more mandates possibly leading to mandatory annual or more vaccinations.
At least in Canada there is one organization that is against Mandatory Masking: The Ontario Civil Liberties Association. And they give very thoughtful and cogent reasons for their opposition:
“There are significant anticipated harms from the widespread use of masks in the general population, which both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the OCLA have described in detail. [ http://ocla.ca/ocla-letter-who/ ]
Governments are enforcing laws, by-laws and “health” directives that thereby put the general population at risk, while not having satisfied the onus of demonstrating that their draconian policies are safe, and not harmful to the very fabric of society.”
McNeil and his sidekick, Strang, seem oblivious to the many consequences of masking a population which has gone unmasked for approximately 65,000 years. What are the consequences alone of forcibly masking children and teaching them that the world is a threatening and dangerous place? Over and over, each and every day, to be even more intensified as they go back to school.
As bookends to the Neil/Strang fiat duo, we have Bill Moredough and Justin Truthno exercising their WE corruption and refusal to properly investigate possibly illegal police activities. Neither of these governments deserve to be given any credibility in any area.
Kudos to the OCLA. Shame on Nova Scotia’s legal community for not challenging this out of control Provincial Government and their assault on civil rights. (As for the Provincial Opposition parties, they just wait and hope to gain power and do the same things.)
After the Discover Halifax draft email mistake yesterday, I was expecting an (unwelcome) announcement on opening up the Atlantic Bubble to travel from the rest of Canada – I wonder if they held back because of the outrage over yesterday’s announcement of a “review” rather than public inquiry into the Nova Scotia Massacre.