Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: Government of Alberta)

By Shane Clausing

new covid restrictions

New restrictions implemented by province as COVID-19 cases continue climb

Dec 8, 2020 | 4:36 PM

The Alberta government has implemented new COVID-19 restrictions as cases across the province continue to climb.

The following measures are in place for the entire province and will be in place for a minimum of four weeks starting at 12:01 a.m. on December 13:

• All casinos and gyms must close.
• Restaurants and bars will be allowed to remain open for takeout service only, dine-in service is banned.
• Businesses that offer personal and wellness services such as hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlours and massages will be forced to close.
• Entertainment and indoor recreation facilities must close.
• Retail capacity will be allowed to remain open at 15% capacity.
• Places of worship will be capped at 15% capacity. The province is recommending that places of worship move their services to either virtual or operate as a drive-in to reduce any close contact.
• Facilities such as outdoor rinks and indoor ski-hills can remain open if public health measures are followed.
• All workplaces must have their staff work from home, unless the employer requires an employee to be in the workplace for operational effectiveness. This was previously a recommendation and is now a legal requirement.

Face coverings and masks are mandatory across the entire province, in all indoor public settings, places of worship and workplaces. Farm operations are exempt. This new mandate takes effect immediately.

The ban on indoor social gatherings has been extended, and now also includes a ban on all outdoor social gatherings. Individuals must socially keep to their household, unless they live alone, where up to two non-household contacts will be permitted.

School’s across the province will remain open under the measures that were announced two weeks ago. Junior High and High School students will remain working online until January 11, while Elementary schools will remain open until the Christmas break on December 18.

Small businesses will also be getting some help from the provincial government, courtesy of the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant.

As of December 8, there are 654 Albertan’s in hospital. To put that in perspective, that is a 371 per cent increase in patients from November 1.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says that with hospitalizations rising across the province, this action needed to be taken before things worse.

“To respond to the growth in COVID-19 hospitalizations, we’ve had to cancel thousands of surgeries and postpone thousands of other medical procedures.”

“Just pause and think about this for a second, because for every one of those people affected, this means anxiety, stress, sometimes it means real physical pain and suffering as their health deteriorates.”

“For some Albertan’s delaying their health care will tragically mean a shorter life span. If we do not succeed in bending down the curve, we will see these hospitalizations numbers continue to increase, and that’s not the conclusion of some theoretical model, it is the hard mathematical reality of the spread of this virus.”

All of the measures implemented on Tuesday will be re-evaluated in four weeks. Kenney added that if some regions see a drop in cases then the province will consider lifting restrictions in those regions.

“The bottom line is that we must have a coordinated, province-wide approach now. Four weeks from now, we will assess our progress and if we can safely return to less stringent restrictions in areas of lower transmission, we will happily do so then.”

With the holiday season here and many people wanting to gather, Premier Kenney strongly encouraged Albertan’s to not gather together this holiday season, to help protect each other.

“For many of us, Christmas is the most important time of the year. It’s the symbolic heart of family life and of treasured memories, and lord knows we all need the loving presence of family and friends at the end of this terrible year now more than ever. But here is the hard truth:

“Clearly the biggest single source of viral transmission is at home gatherings. It’s when we let our guard down, it when we relax and it’s when transmission most easily happens.”

“If we relax the public health measures to permit large family gatherings in three weeks’ time, we will without a doubt see a large increase in hospitalizations and fatalities. We simply cannot let this Christmas turn into a tragedy for many families. With great reluctance, we are asking Albertan’s to limit their holiday gatherings to members of their household or to two close contacts for people who live by themselves.”

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said that with the growth seen over the last month, it’s just another reminder about how quickly this virus can spread.

“Two months ago, on October 8, our positivity rate was just 1.34 per cent, and we had just 184 new cases across the province. Today our positivity rate is 9.41 per cent and our seven day average of new cases is 1,785. There have been outbreaks at almost every type of group setting. We have seen the virus touch every region and age group.”

Hinshaw added that it’s time for us to come together.

“I also know that we all want to move to a time where restrictions are not necessary and our health system is not at risk. The quickest path to getting there is embracing these restrictions for at least the next four weeks. I know it is hard, but I ask you to be patient and keep going.”

“We need to go above and beyond to keep ourselves, our families and communities safe. It is going to take each and every one of us doing everything we can to bend the curve and reduce the strain on our health care system.”

“I know the vast majority have worked incredibly hard to protect each other. Today we are asking you to do even more and while that may feel overwhelming, that’s what needs to be done. There is no other option, but we’re all in this together and we will all get through this together.”

As of December 8, there were 20,388 active cases in Alberta. In Grande Prairie, there are 106 active cases.