Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Vol. 44, No. 18
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YOUR LOCAL PAPER
MORE RESTRICTIONS AS ALBERTA COVID RATES ARE WORST IN COUNTRY SCHOOLS MOVE TO ONLINE LEARNING FOR 2 WEEKS Kenney vows rules will be enforced, blames Albertans who’ve acted in defiance Staff Reporter
The Province has instituted new broad measures to stop the spike of COVID-19 cases in the province. Premier Jason Kenney announced late on Tuesday, that effective Friday, May 7, all Kindergarten to Grade 12 students will move to at-home learning until Tuesday, May 25, after the long weekend. Kenney said there are presently 80,000 Alberta students and staff in self-isolation that were already stressing many school divisions to make this move. “This two week reset will allow students to return to classrooms to the end of the year.” Effective immediately, any workplace with a COVID-19 outbreak will be mandated to close operations for 10 days, with exemptions for critical workplaces. All post secondary institutions will move online. Retail stores may now only have up to 10 per cent of their fire code capacity or five people, whichever is higher. Outdoor social gatherings are now restricted to five people, and it is strongly recommended that only two households or cohorts meet in this manner. Places of Worship, formerly limited to 15 per cent of building fire code capacity, is now limited to 15 people, total. Funeral services have been reduced to 10 people total. Effective 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 9, all personal wellness, hair salons,
tanning salons, nail salons, and others in this group must close for the next three weeks. All in-person restaurant, pub, or bar dining, indoors or outdoors, is prohibited, all restaurants must move to takeout or delivery only, for three weeks. Outdoor sports and recreation will be limited to households and close contacts only. Youth and adult performance will close.
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A full list of measures can be found on alberta.ca. Kenney started his announcement with the statement, “Our province has entered a critical stage in the COVID19 pandemic. “Like most places around the world hit by the third wave, it has reached new heights in Alberta. “What’s more concerning, we’ve also set a record for the number of Albertans in Intensive Care. We have
We will not tolerate those who endanger the health of their fellow Albertans while the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. - Premier Jason Kenney
Visits to health clinics, social services, physicians, dentists, accountants, and lawyers can still be made, but by appointment only. Indoor fitness remains closed. The province is doubling the basic fine for violating public health measures from $1,000 to $2,000. The maximum fine remains at $100,000. The province will introduce tougher enforcement protocols for repeat offenders. “We will not tolerate those who endanger the health of their fellow Albertans while the vast majority of people are doing the right thing,” said Kenney. Those who can work from home must do so. Masks are required at all indoor worksites unless workers can physically distance.
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Leslie Cholowsky
always sought, as a province, to protect lives and livelihoods in the province. This has meant resisting pressure to apply severe lockdown policies. “Because we recognize the severe impact on people’s lives, that’s why we’ve taken a balanced approach, following the evidence and applying targeted restrictions; restrictions that have been designed to limit viral spread. “From day one our goals have been to avoid large-scale loss of life, to keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed while minimizing the damage from restrictions on our broader society. “Governments must not impair people’s rights or their livelihoods unless it is absolutely necessary, to save lives, and in this case, to prevent disaster from unfolding in our hospitals.
Unfortunately, that is the situation that we are facing today. The arrival of highly transmissible COVID variants in Alberta is putting real pressure on our health care system. Despite 64 per cent of Albertans over the age of 50 having received at least one dose of the vaccine, the virus continues to spread at an alarming rate, especially amongst younger people. “Today we have 671 people in hospital with COVID-19, 150 of whom are in intensive care. We also have to treat non-COVID patients, meaning that there are a total of 226 Albertans in ICU right now. That’s far more than the total number of ICU beds that we would have available in a typical year, in our health care system. “AHS has worked hard to develop surge capacity. If pressed, we can open 425 ICU beds, but, would require mass cancellation of other surgeries that people are counting on. “If exponential growth of COVID-19 continues, it would begin to push the outer limits of even our surge and expanded hospital capacity within weeks. “Let me be clear. We will not permit our health care system to be overwhelmed. We must not and will not force our doctors and nurses to decide who gets care and who doesn’t. “That is why we must act now to stop the spike.” Kenney said the new measures will be province wide with the exception of a very few communities that have very low levels of spread. He closed with what he called one simple message, “If you can stay home, please stay home, at least over the next three weeks.”