Kenney warns of new wave as Stage 2 relaunch looms
Even as Alberta prepares to move into Stage 2 of its economic relaunch later this month, Premier Jason Kenney says it’s likely the province will experience additional waves of the COVID-19 virus later on.
The premier said Friday he’s encouraged as Alberta continues to see fewer new cases of the novel coronavirus each day, even as testing ramps up.
He said he believed Alberta was ready to enter the second stage of its relaunch strategy “sooner than expected.” The province’s emergency management cabinet committee would make a decision Monday, with an announcement to follow “early next week,” according to Kenney.
“The key triggers to watch are the levels of hospitalization and ICU admissions, which continue to go down,” he said.
As of Friday, which marked three months since Alberta reported its first case of the virus, there were 44 Albertans infected by COVID -19 in hospital, including six being treated in intensive care.
Of those, 30 people were from Alberta Health Services Calgary zone, including four in ICU.
Across Alberta, there were 328 active cases of the virus, with 238 in the Calgary area.
Kenney said just four per cent of hospital beds designated for
COVID-19 patients were in use.
“These are the trends which have given … our public health people a sense of confidence that we can move forward a little more quickly and right across the board with relaunch,” Kenney said.
Stage 2 of Alberta’s relaunch has been tentatively targeted for June 19.
It would include the reopening of libraries, cinemas and personal services, such as massage parlours. Some activities originally scheduled under Stage 3, including fitness and recreation centres as well as organized sports, could also be allowed to resume under Stage 2, according to the province.
But Kenney said Alberta is “not out of the woods on this thing.”
“Folks in Edmonton here say there’s almost no new cases and so it’s kind of back to normal. Folks, we’re not back to normal,” Kenney said, adding people across the province must continue following public health guidelines.
“We’ve seen around the world a number of places that relaxed their public health restrictions, only to see significant spikes in new cases requiring further crackdowns. To be honest, I fully expect that we will see future surges. We need to be prepared for that, we need to be ready for it.”
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday the chances of a second wave hinge on actions of people across the province.
“Despite the fact that our first wave now seems to be behind us, a second wave will depend on all of us continuing to make sure that we’re preventing spread in order to mitigate the chance that we could see that second wave,” she said.
Hinshaw said two basic criteria “must absolutely be met” in order for the go-ahead on Stage 2 to come.
First, hospitalizations due to COVID -19 over the two weeks prior to that stage must either be in decline, or not have increased dayover-day by at least 2.5 per cent.
ICU admissions for COVID-19 patients must also be at less than 50 per cent capacity.
She said health officials are also closely monitoring the number of new cases each day, the positivity rate of testing and active regional case rates.
“We are easily, easily meeting those metrics,” Hinshaw said.
“We are seeing a decrease in cases across the province. This is incredibly encouraging.”