Photo: Government of Alberta

By Troy Gillard

CURRENT MEASURES MORE EFFECTIVE, PREMIER SAYS

Kenney says regional restrictions discussed, but not an option right now

Apr 8, 2021 | 5:26 PM

Premier Jason Kenney says the provincial government has considered regional public health restrictions for Alberta’s fight against COVID-19, but it’s not an option at this time.

Kenney said Thursday that the movement of people between different parts of the province would make regional restrictions less effective than the province-wide measures currently in place.

“We acknowledge that at some points throughout the pandemic we have seen some regions with very low or no COVID cases and significant spikes in other zones,” Kenney said. “The challenge has been, that of course the virus moves very quickly and people move as well and the virus moves with them.”

Kenney says they don’t want to end up in a situation where Albertans are restricted from travelling outside their local area.

“That would be pretty extreme,” he suggested. “At the end of the day, we have to look at how fast the virus is moving in certain populations and in certain communities. That’s what has informed our policy approach.”

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The provincial government is putting together a caucus working group to work with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, to look at the possibility of regional COVID-19 restrictions that don’t create public confusion.

“Quite frankly, right now, this surge is happening pretty much everywhere,” Kenney cautioned.

“We’ve looked at different ways of carving up the map to come up with sensible regional boundaries and right now, not a single region in the province would qualify for less stringent COVID restrictions.”