We are writing this letter as a group of seniors who want to express our grave concern about the lack of a requirement for vaccination to access the Whistler Blackcomb resort gondolas this upcoming ski season.
We are part of a large community of seniors who have chosen to live in Whistler during our retirement years. This choice was made for a few reasons: We love the outdoors, we love skiing and we make staying healthy and fit a priority. For the most part we are a very healthy group of individuals and it is important to us and to our healthcare system that we stay this way.
Because of our age cohort, this healthy group is now at risk of having all of our hard work reversed with the presence of the COVID-19 virus. Some of us have medical conditions that make us immune compromised and a higher risk of severe outcomes if we contract COVID-19. Being fully vaccinated provides very good [protection], but not a 100-per-cent guarantee against contracting the virus, as we are now seeing.
The unvaccinated population is keeping this virus circulating in our community and country.
We read with interest and astonishment when [Sea to Sky health officer] Dr. John Harding, during his presentation [to council] in Whistler last week, claimed that aerosol droplets present very little risk of viral transmission. If this is the case, why are we wearing masks, how has COVID-19 been transmitted to millions of people? This is, of course, entirely contradictory to the advice of Canada’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and to the evidence published in the U.K.’s world-renowned medical publication, The Lancet.
In a recent study, the gaiter type neck fleece was shown to actually transmit more droplets than no mask. And bandanas were only slightly better.
This COVID-19 policy requires us to share a gondola this ski season with others who may or may not be vaccinated.
Gondola rides can take at a minimum 20 minutes sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with, and across from, others with no one policing the quality of masks or the proper wearing of them.
And unlike other indoor spaces such as restaurants, there is no room for social distancing or monitoring of behaviour in a gondola.
In addition to the personal risk that riding imposes, the risk of an outbreak also puts the entire Whistler community at risk due to the consequences of shutting down the mountain, as has happened in the past two seasons. Just a walk through the village with many shops shuttered shows the devastating economic consequences of an outbreak.
Finally, because Whistler Blackcomb is now clearly the outlier in this respect, it will attract the non-vaccinated from all over, exacerbating the already unacceptable risk. What is so puzzling in it all is the seeming reluctance to address the issue with a simple solution. If the consequence of imposing this requirement is to deny a few unvaccinated skiers the privilege of skiing, then this can only add to the pressure to be vaccinated, as is the province’s objective.
Right now we seem to be at an impasse. Vail [Resorts] and government officials are abrogating their collective responsibility by saying that it is up to the other group to make this decision.
Please do the right thing not just for your senior skiers but [also] for everyone who is going to be riding the gondolas this winter and for the health and safety of the Whistler community as a whole.
Please act now.
