“It’s called acquired respiratory distress syndrome,” Bartie said.
“Essentially, if he gets a virus, he ends up with croup-like symptoms and ends up needing a steroid that they give brain-damaged patients, so it’s pretty tough.”
Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday the province will not allow any cover-up orders for children in Alberta’s K-12 education system.
“The detrimental effects of coverage on children’s mental health, development and classroom education are well understood,” Smith said.
“We need to turn the page on an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers.”
Bartie says Smith interferes with the health of many children, including her son.
“She’s not a doctor, and with all due respect to her, to say she’s being taken away forever is, No. 1, premature,” Bartie said.
“It’s completely out of whack and it’s going to force a lot of people to make difficult decisions about their children.  Do they stay at school and meet their social needs, or do they stay at home and stay physically safe?’
Nate Bartie, 15, has acquired respiratory distress syndrome and wears an N-95 mask to school every day.
Bartie says banning all future mask orders will be detrimental to her son.
“I think the biggest thing for me is that it upsets me — actually makes me very angry — that they’re disenfranchising a whole group of kids,” he said.
Edmonton mother Monique Guillamot has a son with Dravet syndrome, which is a life-threatening disease.
She says her son’s immune system is completely compromised and he hasn’t been able to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“When he contracted COVID, (in March and August) he was bedridden for over two weeks,” he said.
“He had massive secondary effects of pneumonia.  He was completely dehydrated.  It was very scary.  He had grand mal seizures.”
Guillamot believes Smith may not stop at schools, suggesting she could ban the mask on children in other places.
“Will he do this in the children’s unit at the hospital, for example?”  said Guillaume.
Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling says taking the mask off the table is short-sighted.
“The government and the current prime minister need to sit down and have a conversation with the people who have been working in these buildings for the last two years about dealing with the pandemic at a level that they haven’t had to,” Schilling said.
Noel Gibney, professor emeritus in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Alberta, says the mask works.
“The mask has proven to be highly effective and efficient in reducing infections in schools, preventing transmission not only in schools, but also in the wider community,” Gibney said.
“She is putting herself in a position where she and her government will be responsible for potentially bad medical outcomes in the event of another pandemic.”
CTV News reached out to Smith’s office for more information about her reasoning behind her statement, but did not hear back.