No easing of COVID-19 rules in Alberta
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Mar 24, 2021
Premier Jason Kenney said last week the key metric is the hospitalization rate, which has been well under 300 for three weeks, but the number of Albertans in hospital with COVID-19 has been climbing.
The province, which banned social gatherings and imposed widespread business closings in December amid a dramatic surge in infections, set benchmarks earlier this year that tied the easing of public-health measures to the number of people in hospital with COVID-19. "There is hope on the horizon, and if the government truly believes that every Alberta adult will be offered their first shot by the end of June, then it would be truly irresponsible to put families and businesses at increased risk over the coming weeks".
Hinshaw's update comes as the provincial cabinet met on Monday to consider whether to advance to the next phase of Alberta's relaunch. "Ottawa didn't'", said Shandro. "It's the smart move to make for our province right now and it's absolutely necessary to help us avoid a third wave that would take more lives and once again put more pressure on the hospital system", Mr. Shandro said Monday.
"This is the safe move".
Case counts have also risen sharply, to more than 500 each day since the middle of last week.
She lost both parents to COVID-19, and nearly died herself.
On Monday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, reported 456 new cases. New variant cases broke records on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
But Alberta has nearly 6,000 active infections - the highest per-capita case rate in Canada.
Alberta is just emerging from a second round of health restrictions it implemented in mid-December.
"A third wave is rising, but the decisions the government makes this week will determine how large and how deadly that wave is", said NDP health critic David Shepherd.
Currently, retailers, restaurants, youth sports and in-person worship services are open with capacity restrictions. Two members of Mr. Kenney's caucus joined an anti-lockdown group.
