Alberta begins to ease lockdown
Alberta will allow some non-essential businesses to reopen in midmay if the province’s COVID-19 outbreak stays under control.
But it will be much longer until restrictions on mass gatherings and non-essential travel meant to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus are lifted, Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday.
“Our challenge now is to start moving toward a more normal life,” Kenney said.
“A true return to normal won’t occur until there’s an effective vaccine or treatment, or until the virus is no longer there to threaten us, but until then, we all have to remain vigilant.”
Alberta on Thursday detailed its plan to gradually reopen the economy and allow for more social and recreational activities, following the lead of provinces including Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
The roadmap includes details on some restrictions that will start to be eased within the next week, including resuming some scheduled, non-urgent surgeries starting Monday.
Also on Monday, dentists and other health-care specialists, including physiotherapists and social workers, will be allowed to resume services if they are following professional guidelines.
Access to parks and public lands will also be restored starting Friday, allowing vehicle access to parking lots and staging areas, as well as boat launches. Golf courses can open starting as early as Saturday if they keep clubhouses and pro shops closed, and most campgrounds will reopen by June.
Stage 1, the next step of the reopening, will begin as early as May 14, but that date could be pushed back if health measures including more comprehensive testing and contact tracing procedures are not yet implemented.
In Stage 1, the following types of businesses will be allowed to reopen:
■ Retailers and farmers’ market vendors
■ Some personal services, including barbershops and hairstylists
■ Museums and art galleries
■ Daycares and summer camps, with occupancy limits
■ Restaurants, cafés, lounges and bars, with maximum 50 per cent capacity.
However, gatherings of more than 15 people will still be prohibited, schools will remain closed and restrictions will continue for visiting patients at health-care facilities. As well, workers will still be advised to work remotely when possible.
If hospitalization and intensive-care unit rates remain low following Stage 1 and the rate of new infections continues to be limited, the province will move to Stage 2, though no date was provided for when this phase could begin.
In the second stage, kindergarten to Grade 12 schools would be allowed to reopen with restrictions, more personal services will be allowed to open and some larger gatherings will be allowed, with restrictions.
However, Kenney said students will not return to schools this academic year, but summer classes and specialized programs are still a possibility.
Finally, in Stage 3, all businesses will be allowed to reopen, large gatherings could take place and non-essential travel could resume, though there will be some yet-unspecified restrictions surrounding these activities.
The timing of the final stage will depend on the success of the first two phases of reopening.
Even though the province is starting to relaunch, the novel coronavirus isn’t going away anytime soon, Kenney said.
“We can expect to see more local outbreaks,” he said. “But we’re in a position to identify those outbreaks and contain them before they overwhelm our health-care systems.”
Social distancing and sanitation measures will need to be maintained throughout the phased relaunch, Kenney said, and all Albertans who are sick will need to stay at home. It’s also possible that if rates of infection are severe enough and Albertans don’t follow guidelines, public-health restrictions could be reinstated.
As well, the plan could be changed over the upcoming weeks. “It not set in stone,” the premier said.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Thursday that though he believes it’s important to outline a path forward, he has worries about relaxing restrictions given the continued spread of COVID -19 in the province. City restrictions could differ from provincial ones going forward, he said.
“My trepidations are around the fact that we’re not out of this yet. We just yesterday had, I believe, the highest numbers of new cases in Calgary since the beginning of this and we had seven people pass away,” Nenshi said.
“If we open the faucet and the numbers are bad, I’m absolutely prepared to close it again.”
Kenney said there may be a local approach taken to keep restrictions in place in problem areas, but it would likely not be based on an entire Alberta Health Services zone. Places such as Brooks, High River and parts of Calgary would likely be the subject of those localized responses, but specifics would be approved by chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
One reason public-health officials felt comfortable with starting to ease restrictions is that only five per cent of acute-care beds that were set aside for COVID -19 patients are currently in use, Kenney said.
Alberta official Opposition Leader Rachel Notley agreed with much of the plan, but said she has concerns about areas including testing capacity and long-term care sites, as well as worker safety as they return to workplaces.
THURSDAY BRINGS THREE MORE COVID-19 DEATHS;
Alberta’s death toll from COVID -19 currently sits at 89 after Hinshaw announced three new deaths Thursday.
However, one death previously thought to be related to COVID -19 was reclassified after public-health officials determined the death was not related to the virus, meaning that the total death count increased by two.
On Wednesday, Alberta reported seven new COVID -19 deaths, six of which were from Calgary’s Clifton Manor long-term care centre. In total, 544 continuing-care workers and staff have tested positive for COVID -19.
The province has now recorded a total of 5,355 coronavirus cases after reporting 190 new cases from more than 5,000 tests — a 3.8 per cent positive rate.
More than a fifth of the total cases involve employees at two southern Alberta meat-packing plants. The JBS plant in Brooks has 333 cases among employees and contractors, while High River’s Cargill site has seen 908 infections. The plant announced Wednesday it will reopen Monday after a twoweek shutdown. Among Cargill employees, 641 have recovered from COVID -19.
There have been 2,161 recoveries, making up 40 per cent of all confirmed cases.
Ninety Albertans are currently in hospital with COVID-19, with 22 of them in intensive-care units.
The lower-than-projected hospitalization rates led to a new model for Alberta’s outbreak, forecasting a “low” scenario in which as few as 298 people require hospitalization and 95 are in ICU at the virus’s peak.
A mid-to-late May peak for the virus is still projected. Kenney said that since the peak is anticipated to be well below the health-care system’s capacity, starting to reopen before the peak is reasonable.
“We believe that we can proceed prudently and cautiously with a gradual, phased reopening,” he said. “The word peak itself shouldn’t scare us.”