Kenney releases Alberta’s plan for relaxed restrictions, new phase in February
Posted Jan 29, 2021 4:17 pm.
Last Updated Jan 29, 2021 5:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced Alberta’s plan to relaxing COVID-19 restrictions in the future with the first steps taking place on Feb. 8.
During a live update Friday, Kenney says Alberta is tracking COVID-19 hospitalizations as the key factor towards relaxing strict protocols in the province.
He says while daily case numbers reflect transmission trends and help guide decisions on pausing further relaxations or increasing protocols, hospitalization numbers are a lagging effect that will be the benchmark.
“If cases of COVID-19 surge again, if we start moving again towards exponential growth like we saw in November, December and if somehow one of these new viral variants takes hold in our community and beings to spread at rates seen in some other parts of the world, we will have to impose stronger restrictions again,” said Kenney.
He adds that while hospitalization is the primary factor, other numbers still matter.
When a benchmark in hospitalizations is reached, protocols will be eased to a certain amount.
After three weeks of the relaxed protocols, hospitalizations will be considered again before taking another step.
Kenney says Alberta is currently in the early steps of the plan, which involves the guidelines of outdoor social gatherings of 10, in-class learning, personal wellness meetings by appointments, and funerals up to 20.
The following four steps of the plan will be implemented when Alberta reaches specific benchmarks:
- For Step 1, there must be at the most 600 cases in hospital with declining cases
- For Step 2, 450 and declining
- For Step 3, 300 and declining
- For Step 4, 150 and declining
As Alberta sees the current hospitalizations falling below 600, Step 1 will go into effect on Feb. 8.
In Step 1, Alberta will continue easing restrictions for indoor and outdoor sports for schools, one-on-one fitness by appointment, and restaurants and bars.
In Step 2, retail stores, along with community halls, conference centres will see relaxed restrictions in addition to those mentioned in Step 1.
Step 3 will build on Steps 1 and 2 while also easing restrictions on places of worship, museums, zoos, adult sports, casinos, libraries, and indoor seated events such as movie theatres.
Step 4 will look into potentially easing restrictions on indoor entertainment centres, outdoor sporting events, weddings and receptions, amusement parks, day and night camps, festivals and more.
“This roadmap sets out a clear path for when and how Albertans will see some easing of health measures. By outlining the benchmarks we must achieve to see more reopenings, we are offering hope and a path forward,” said Kenney in a release.
“But we have to proceed with caution. This stepped approach will only work if Albertans continue to follow existing health measures and make good choices to keep our numbers trending down. It’s up to each one of us to maintain our vigilance.”
Throughout all the steps, physical distancing and facial masks will remain.
There were 543 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 additional deaths discovered Friday.
Currently, there are 594 cases in hospital, with 110 in ICU.
