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By Shaun Penner
Cautiously Moving Forward

Chamber chair pleased to see benchmark relaunch plan from province

Feb 1, 2021 | 12:32 PM

Friday’s announcement of easing some public health restrictions around businesses in Alberta has the chair of the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce feeling cautiously optimistic.

Premier Jason Kenney announced Friday that starting February 8, restaurants in the province could open for restricted dine-in services, while fitness centres could open for one-on-one personal training, by appointment only.

With that, Larry Gibson says he feels this is a good first step for those businesses.

“I know there are still some restrictions in place for them, but at least they can get their doors open and get some sense of business back up and running for them.”

That easing of public health restrictions came as Kenney laid out the province’s “path forward”, which is a four-step approach to allowing businesses and organizations to begin to possibly see restrictions eased on their operations.

The plan is based heavily on hospitalizations and ICU patients in the province with COVID-19. Restrictions can be eased gradually at the following benchmarks:

  • Step 1 – 600 and declining
  • Step 2 – 450 and declining
  • Step 3 – 300 and declining
  • Step 4 – 150 and declining

If after three weeks the hospitalization numbers are in the range of the next benchmark, decisions will be considered for moving to the next step.

Having previously advocated for such a transparent approach, as the chamber did send a letter to the premier advocating for a more transparent approach to how and when businesses might be able to re-open, Gibson says he is glad to see such a plan put forward.

“If people have a goal, or they know what they have to shoot for, well then certainly they can understand the science behind it and they’ll shoot for that,” said Gibson, adding he knows patience will still be needed by the many businesses still affected by restrictions.

“I know a lot of businesses want to see things back to normal, but we also understand that this has to be a gradual approach. We certainly don’t want to see a spike again.”

A spike in hospitalizations and new daily cases could result in the reimposition of tougher restrictions on businesses in the province, Kenney warned Friday.

With new, emerging variants of the novel coronavirus and the higher level of contagiousness believed to come with them, he knows many business owners will not be taking this step forward for granted and will be moving forward very cautiously.

“They’re encouraged their doors are back open, but in the back of their minds they have that, that’s going to weighing on everyone’s mind, that these other variants could put a damper on things, but they certainly don’t want to see their doors closed again,” said Gibson.

“I know they are going to be doing everything they can to meet the protocols and keep their establishments safe.”

Full details on the province’s relaunch plan announced Friday can be found here.

by Shaun Penner