Mayor Nenshi pleading for Calgarians to stay vigilant as COVID-19 cases rise in Alberta

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Rising COVID-19 case numbers in Alberta has Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi calling on his city’s residents to follow public health guidelines to help control the spread of the virus.

In Monday’s update, there were 86 new cases found in the province, along with two new deaths.

NEW:

– Alberta reports 86 new cases
– 2 new death (163 total
– 701 active cases (+25)
– 55 in hospital, 13 of those in ICU (+3)#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/qwAxeap6XT

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) July 14, 2020

Nenshi says although we cannot control floods or hail storms, we can reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“While our hospitalizations and ICU rates are very good, ultimately if our infections go up, those are going to go up too. We now have more active cases than we had when we locked everything down in March, so clearly these numbers are going in the wrong direction,” Nenshi said.

Calgary has 295 active cases as of Tuesday’s update, which took a jump of 28 cases since Monday.

Nenshi reiterated the extreme importance of doing things like washing your hands, keeping physical distance, and wearing a mask.

“Calgarians need to double down, social distancing–it really matters, and I’m seeing a lot of being violated outdoors and indoors. You got to wash your hands, you got to not touch your face, and you got to wear a mask. Those things are critical.”

READ MORE: Premier urges people to wear masks as COVID-19 cases rise

Nenshi said the province is flirting with triple-digit increases, and both he and Dr. Deena Hinshaw have said there may be “fatigue” when it comes to hearing about the pandemic, which ultimately could lead to higher case numbers.

“This pandemic has been a long haul and I worry that Albertans may be starting to tune the messages out,” Hinshaw said in the Tuesday COVID-19 update press conference. “It can seem like old news and many are tired of hearing this information.”

Over the past two weeks, 780 new cases have been identified in the province, with 57 per cent of them being people under the age of 40.

READ MORE: Two additional deaths and 86 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta

With play-offs soon to begin, Nenshi says bars and restaurants may not be the safest place to cheer on your team with the number of cases rising, especially in younger age groups.

He suggests watching from your own home. He also said mandatory masks on transit and in city-owned buildings is something council is looking into, in hopes of controlling the spread of the virus.