Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Sept. 3, 2021.

By David Opinko/Chris Brown

Mask mandate returning to Alberta Saturday, other new measures announced

Sep 3, 2021 | 12:36 PM

Edmonton – It’s time to dust off your face masks – you will need them once again.

The Government of Alberta announced a series of “temporary measures” Friday to curb the rising tide of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions.

These include:

• The use of face masks will be mandatory for all indoor public spaces and workplaces starting Saturday, September 4 at 8:00 am
• Schools are not required to implement masking but individual school boards can set their own rules
• As of September 4 at 8 a.m., restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, nightclubs, and other licensed establishments will be required to end alcohol service at 10 p.m
• Albertans are encouraged to limit in-person contacts. To support this, the province “strongly recommends” that unvaccinated Albertans limit their indoor social gatherings to close contacts of only two cohort families up to a maximum of 10 people
• It is also recommended that employers pause their plans to have staff return to work and instead continue with work-from-home measures. If employees are working on location, employees must mask for all indoor settings, except in work stations or where two-metre physical distancing or adequate physical barriers are in place

Telling unvaccinated Albertans that their choices are jeopardizing the health-care system, the province has introduced a monetary incentive to encourage vaccinations.

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We will pay you $100,” said Premier Jason Kenney. “Alberta will be the first province to offer a personal monetary incentive to step up and do the right thing. Anyone who gets a first or second dose will now be eligible to receive a $100 gift card.”

The card will be available to people who get the vaccine between now and Oct. 14.

“This is essentially now a crisis of the unvaccinated,” said Kenney. “The overwhelming majority of severe cases outcomes that are putting pressure on our hospitals are occurring in unvaccinated patients.”

Thirty per cent of Albertans are not fully vaccinated.

As well, updated COVID-19 projections have been released.

Based on information available in mid-August, an updated projection of estimated COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations to the end of September was developed.

This provincial modelling shows intensive care unit patients could possibly peak at around 180 in the medium scenario, although if accelerating trends continue, numbers could reach or exceed the currently projected high scenario at 290, say government officials.

Other hospitalizations (non-ICU) are currently trending toward the high scenario, with a potential peak of 700 in the next several weeks. If the high scenario peaks are reached, officials note this would mean a greater combined impact on the acute care system than in all previous waves, and if changes in transmission cause greater spread, these numbers could be exceeded.

This modelling is now available online. A separate evidence summary has also been posted, including key assumptions and considerations, hospital impact modelling that was developed in June to inform changes announced in late July, and a reference list for further reading.

(With files from rdnewsNOW)