City would follow AHS lead on decision about Brooks
By GILLIAN SLADE on April 29, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade The City of Medicine Hat will not be restricting the movement of people between the Hat and Brooks, and if this is deemed necessary it would come from Alberta Health Services. “We (the city) will not be restricting access to Brooks or people coming into Brooks,” said Merrick Brown, director of health, safety, environment and emergency management for the of City Medicine Hat. “We don’t actually have a mechanism for that.” In the last seven days the number of COVID-19 cases in Brooks has increased from about 100 to more than 600. In that time frame the number of cases in Medicine Hat has almost doubled to about 30. Mayor Ted Clugston recently said he was aware of up to 400 Hatters commuting to Brooks for work on a daily basis. Brown says a local state of emergency allows for restrictions on people in or out of Medicine Hat but says you can’t be selective about who will be allowed in or out. Brown uses Fort McMurray as an example where access was restricted during the fire there four years ago. “The province had to declare a state of emergency for that. It was not a state of local emergency,” said Brown. If this was considered necessary in Brooks it would be AHS that would be the lead on the situation, said Brown. “Restricting people to and from Brooks will not prevent the spread,” said Brown, emphasizing the need to wash hands and practise social distancing to limit the spread. There has been speculation about whether people travelling to and from Brooks for work, perhaps at the JBS meat processing plant, are provided with bus transportation. Brown says he is not aware of a bus at all. Brown says AHS is not consulting with Medicine Hat about restricting access to Brooks because if that was being considered it would also pertain to other cities and communities including Calgary. By way of illustration, Brown says, even if you were to establish a road block to restrict access to Brooks it is far more complex than it may appear. The highway does not only have traffic heading to Brooks. There are numerous vehicles heading to Calgary and other communities, said Brown. 14-13
