STATE OF EMERGENCY ENDING
Nenshi says virus peril remains strong as Stage 2 of province’s reopening launches
Danger still lingers, Nenshi says
The City of Calgary will no longer be under a state of local emergency starting Friday, but Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Calgarians must remain vigilant against COVID-19.
“We cannot let our guard down. It does not mean the virus is gone, it does not mean there is treatment, it does not mean there is a cure, it does not mean there is a vaccine,” Nenshi said at a news conference Thursday.
“But as we look very carefully at where things are, we are now in a position where we will be able to wrap up our state of local emergency.”
The official end of Calgary’s state of emergency coincides with Stage 2 of Alberta’s economic relaunch from the novel coronavirus pandemic, which will see a variety of businesses, including recreation centres and movie theatres, allowed to reopen Friday.
Calgary’s local state of emergency was called March 15. The Alberta government also plans to let its state of public health emergency expire June 15.
Despite this, Nenshi stressed that provincial restrictions around COVID-19 still apply.
“We do not have the ability to issue city orders when there is not a state of local emergency,” he said. “The medical officer of health (Dr. Deena Hinshaw) still has the opportunity to issue orders.”
The mayor also said Thursday that he thinks the use of face masks should be mandatory, particularly when Calgarians are using public transit, but said that’s a call for provincial health officials to make.
“We do not believe that even in a state of local emergency that the city has the right to make them mandatory, generally,” Nenshi said. “Can we make them mandatory on city property including transit? That’s a different question, and one that is certainly being explored right now.
“The prevalence of mask-wearing on transit has been far lower than I would like.”
Though Stage 2 of the relaunch begins Friday, Calgary Emergency Management Agency chief Tom Sampson said city recreation centres wouldn’t open immediately, as the city needs to rehire some of the 1,200 city recreation, parks and pools staff.
Sampson said the city hopes to open four or five aquatic and fitness facilities and two arenas with four ice pads as well as dry pads, with details on which facilities will reopen coming in the next few days.
He also announced a pilot project to paint white chalk circles in four of Calgary’s most popular parks to encourage social distancing.
Fifty three-metre circles have been painted on the grass in Bowness, Riley, Prince’s Island and North Glenmore parks.
The city said the paint used is safe for the environment as well as pets.
“If the circles work well, we’ll continue,” Sampson said. “Please remain vigilant in the parks and enjoy the parks ... but if your park is overcrowded, please consider going somewhere else.”
Alberta announced 40 new
COVID -19 cases Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 7,316.
The new cases came from a record-high 7,131 tests, meaning about 0.6 per cent of tests processed returned positive for the coronavirus.
A total of 379 of those cases remain active, or 5.2 per cent of all cases detected. As well, 6,788 Albertans have now officially recovered from the virus.
Alberta’s death toll from COVID -19 dropped to 149 deaths, two fewer than the 151 deaths reported Wednesday. According to Alberta Health, two deaths previously attributed to the coronavirus were determined post-mortem to be unrelated.
The two deaths removed from Alberta’s official count are a woman in her 80s in the Calgary zone who was a resident at Intercare Brentwood and a woman in her 70s in the Alberta Health Services South zone.
As of Thursday, 45 Albertans were in hospital with the coronavirus, six of whom were in intensive-care units, representing a slight increase in hospitalizations from Wednesday.
Also Thursday, the Siksika First Nation has reported its first case of COVID -19 on the reserve in a video posted on Facebook.
All individuals are currently in isolation and the nation’s health service team is working to prevent further spread, Chief Ouray Crowfoot said in the video.
Crowfoot added that there were four previous cases linked to the First Nation but that those infected did not live on the reserve.