Canadian Press file photo

By Troy Gillard

"WE NEED FOLKS TO FOLLOW THE RULES"

New public health measures expected in Alberta Tuesday: Kenney

May 3, 2021 | 6:03 PM

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says more public health restrictions are likely to be announced Tuesday, as new daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in the province.

Kenney says vaccinations are the ticket to getting out of the pandemic and back to normal but adds that right now it is not enough.

“Given the issues we saw this weekend, and record high cases reported (24,333 on Friday), we are developing a package of stronger public health measures, which I expect to announce tomorrow,” the premier said Monday.

“Cases and hospitalizations are rising faster than our vaccines are arriving. We need to bend the curve in the next few weeks, which means we need folks to follow the rules.”

Kenney says he was angered to see large numbers of people gathered this weekend at an anti-lockdown rodeo event near Bowden. He says the gathering was in flagrant violation of the restrictions in place and of any common sense of the public health measures.

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“That event was organized by people who simply don’t care. Apparently, they don’t care about COVID and apparently, they don’t care about the sacrifices that millions of Albertans are making every single day,” Kenney blasted, also saying it’s astounding so many people in the province still don’t believe that COVID is real or some kind of big government conspiracy or hoax.

“The reason we are at this critical stage of the pandemic in Alberta with record high daily case counts and intensive care numbers is precisely because, for whatever reason, too many Albertans are ignoring the rules we currently have in place.”

The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association issued a statement Monday distancing itself from the event and saying it is working with the province on a safe return for the sport of rodeo.

Kenney implored Albertans to take the pandemic seriously, warning that the actions of Albertans in the next few weeks will determine whether we get a summer of lighter restrictions and low spread thanks to vaccines or stuck still battling spread of the virus.

“If you choose to ignore the restrictions… just know that you’re setting everyone back. And we all want to see this pandemic over,” Kenney said.

As of May 2, there were 23,608 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta after 2,012 new cases were identified. There are 658 people in hospital with COVID-19, 154 of whom are in intensive care.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)