By Shaun Penner

Vigilance still required

Alberta’s “Open for Summer” plan offers hope for residents: Mayor Clayton

May 26, 2021 | 5:55 PM

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton is feeling optimistic now that there are some more clearly defined targets that must be hit in order to see public health restrictions ease across Alberta, and mostly be lifted as early as July.

On Wednesday, Premier Jason Kenney detailed the province’s “Open for Summer” plan, which is a three-stage approach that lays out benchmarks of total vaccination uptake and declining hospitalizations that must be reached before allowing further restrictions to be eased two weeks later.

Clayton says she was glad to see that Alberta is taking a similar approach to B.C., which laid out its reopening strategy on Tuesday.

“Mostly there was not a ton of changes overall, but it gave people hope,” said Clayton. “Alberta’s ‘Open for Summer’ plan, it really gives that.”

“It is actually more aggressive than BC’s. It will get us open (almost) entirely in Stage 3 by early July, assuming that people keep up with the vaccine targets and we reach our hospitalization numbers.”

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The first stage of that plan fully takes effect on Tuesday, June 1, with restaurant patios being able to reopen, outdoor social gathering limits being increased to 10, while outdoor recreation and performance activities can have up to 10 distanced people.

Clayton admits she wishes some of those restrictions could have been eased much sooner.

“With places of worship being open (to 15 per cent capacity) as early as the 28^th, and restaurants (patios only) and recreation not being until June 1, it would have been a nice opportunity, in my opinion, to see that possibly outdoor recreation at a minimum could have started right away.”

As of Tuesday, 58.3 per cent of Albertans aged 12+, and 49.7 per cent of all Albertans, have received their first dose of vaccine, meaning that Stage 2 of the reopening plan could be reached by mid-June, should hospitalizations also drop below 500.

Though the city currently lags behind the provincial average when it comes to total vaccine uptake, Clayton notes she isn’t concerned as all reports to her indicate the doses that are available in the city are being used.

“The North Zone is doing a great job recently. We’ve seen the availability of doses increase significantly,” said Clayton. “We know that people are going through the vaccination clinic on a regular basis and that it has been quite busy.”

She notes with a median age of just over 30 years old, she expects Grande Prairie to get caught up in the near term on a percentage basis.

“A combination of the age groups recently being added and the access to vaccinations, we’ve seen our numbers rise, which is a good sign.”

As it stands now, the province intends to remove the province-wide mask mandate for indoor public spaces once Stage 3 is reached, which will happen when 70 per cent of Albertans aged 12+ have their first dose for at least two weeks.

Though the City brought in its own face-covering bylaw back in September (and was triggered in October, then expired in January) prior to the province implementing such a mandate, Clayton says that will likely be the end of any mask requirements in the city once the province removes its requirement.

“I would certainly hope so,” said Clayton. “There’s been no discussion or consideration for bringing back our mask bylaw at this time.”

Clayton reminds residents that the goals laid out by the province Wednesday will only be reached if vaccine uptake continues and residents continue to follow current public health measures in the short term.

“If people keep with the plan and keep doing what they are doing, we should be good.”