As we enter November we are still at the mercy of Covid-19 and the necessary protections that we must follow to ensure member safety while assembling for masonic purposes. One week ago I prepared a message for the Alberta Freemason that included the latest details released by Dr. Hinshaw concerning assembly within Alberta – as of this afternoon those restrictions have not changed.

While Covid-19 never went away, it is again impacting our communities and Alberta Health is tightening conditions on small assemblies and social gatherings in order to try and control the spread of this infection. Like with most jurisdictions across Canada we are seeing the need to try and strike a balance on social gathering and the need to keep our economy open – as always there are those that will deny that Covid-19 is real or a threat to them, others are living in fear and that fear is having a pronounced effect on the wellbeing of many. Both of our major cities (Edmonton and Calgary) have now implemented mandatory restrictions on social gathering for the next 30 days where 15 is the maximum that can attend for social functions. Structured events have the option to continue but with less severe restrictions that have been placed on social gatherings – once again an extract from AHS & Dr. Hinshaw’s order of October 26.