Province announces new steps to combat COVID-19

As well, the vaccine rollout is being expanded to Albertans 75 or older and all First Nations, Metis and Inuit individuals 65 and older. Effective 8 a.m. tomorrow they can book a third booster dose of vaccine as soon as six months have passed since their last dose.

Kenney also issued a warning about the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

“Indoor gatherings last Thanksgiving sparked the second wave of COVID, with cases and hospitalizations surging after millions of Albertans celebrated in close contact with loved ones,” he said. “We simply cannot afford a repeat scenario. Not with this dangerous Delta variant that is still circulating and with our hospitals under such severe pressure.”

All current public health measures remain in place.

No indoor social gatherings are permitted outside of a household for people who are unvaccinated. For those who are vaccinated indoor social gatherings are limited to two households for up to 10 people over 12 years old. The number of people allowed at outdoor social gatherings has been lowered from 200 to 20.

Kenney said progress is being made in the fourth wave fight but that will be lost if Albertans don’t respect the public health rules in the days to come.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said the fourth wave has been challenging, especially for families with children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated and for schools.

She said the province has always been committed to ensuring in-person learning can continue safely.

An interim process for contact notification will begin on Oct. 12.

“We will be supporting school authorities as they determine close contacts of individuals who were infectious while attending school. And they will notify families of those close contacts,” LaGrange said.

More information will be available online.

By mid-November, AHS will take over notifying close contacts within school settings with assistance from the schools. It will focus on school-based exposures only.

Beginning Oct. 6, Alberta Health will publicly report the name of each school with at least two COVID cases.

“Parents and guardians will be able to go online and see if their school has cases just as they did last year,” LaGrange said.

COVID-19 outbreaks will now be reported if there are 10 or more COVID cases within a 14-day period that were infectious at school.

Free COVID-19 rapid testing kids will be available for parents through their child’s school. LaGrange said it will give peace of mind to students, families and staff.

More details will be available later this month as the program is rolled out.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the highest age-specific rates of new cases has been seen recently in school-aged Albertans.

“While the majority of all of our cases are still in unvaccinated adults, currently those between the ages of five and 19 make up about a quarter of our active cases,” she said.

Children remain at a lower risk of severe outcomes but they can spread the virus to others around them who could be more susceptible to it.

Health Minister Jason Copping said he strongly supports the new measures for schools, saying the province must adapt to the fourth wave and schools need to be a priority.

On the expansion of third dose shots, Copping said it’s about giving Albertans the best protection possible.

“This builds on the booster shots that we’ve already offered to people who are profoundly immunocompromised and to people in congregate care facilities,” he said

He added third doses don’t appear to be necessary for the rest of the population at this time but they will monitor evidence from around the world and adapt as needed.

He also said the low vaccination rate is the main driver of demand on hospitals and he’s pleased more Albertans are getting vaccinated.

“Last month the total number of first and second doses given was 54 per cent higher than it was in August. That’s a real change,” he said.

AHS president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu addressed the postponement of surgeries in the province.

Throughout the fourth wave they have tried to avoid postponements as much as possible.

“Since the end of August AHS has had to delay and postpone 8,500 surgeries provincially. This includes 805 pediatric surgeries,” Yiu said. “During the same time, we have also completed 9,100 surgeries including 3,500 emergency surgeries and 1,100 cancer surgeries. This means despite planning our teams have managed to complete over 50 per cent of scheduled surgeries in the past three weeks.”

Among new cases today, 66.2 per cent are unvaccinated, 6.4 per cent are partially vaccinated and 27.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 73.7 per cent are unvaccinated, 4.5 per cent are partially vaccinated and 21.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 84.5 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 75.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 71.9 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 63.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Alberta has administered 6,142,455 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

by David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Province announces new steps to combat COVID-19

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