COVID numbers: Premier Kenney announces business supports while urging Thanksgiving common sense

The province is also giving support to help businesses implementing the Restrictions Exemption Program and moving to protect businesses from legal challenges and workers from mistreatment.

A one-time payment of $2,000 for small- and medium-sized businesses will soon be offered to help offset some of the costs of the program that requires people to show proof of vaccination to enter a business.

Premier Jason Kenney said eligible businesses will be able to use the funding, “flexibly in the way that they see fit.”

He said an additional $1 million will be available for training to support the safety of workers when implementing the program.

As well, new legislation will be provided to protect businesses that implement the program or mandate vaccines for employees from legal challenges. The maximum fine for mistreating public-facing workers will also be raised from $2,000 to $4,000.

“The bottom line is this: Vaccines are essential to avoid a collapse in our health-care system and even more preventable deaths,” said Kenney.

Kenney said that by tomorrow 85 per cent of eligible Albertans will have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The province is currently testing its app for reading QR code proof of vaccination and expects to release it next week.

SCHOOL OUTBREAK ALERT LIST

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CENTRAL ZONE

Red Deer has 787 active cases of COVID-19, down 38 from Wednesday.

Meantime, recoveries in Red Deer rose by 51 to 7,501 as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 14 in the last day to 8,356.

The city’s rate of active cases per 100,000 people is 739.7, compared to the city of Calgary at 228.8, with the city of Edmonton at 248.3.

Red Deer’s death toll stemming from COVID-19 is 68, with one reported today.

The Central Zone as a whole has 3,758 active cases as of Thursday, down 197 in the last day.

There are 213 hospitalizations, down one, and 23 people receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital, up two from Wednesday.

Central Zone has recorded 289 deaths, including up two over the past day.

Active cases across Central Zone (one-day change)

Red Deer County: 279 (-14)

Sylvan Lake: 99 (-9)

Lacombe County: 262 (-25)

City of Lacombe: 201 (-24)

Ponoka County: 368 (-15)

Brazeau County: 201 (-6)

Clearwater County: 299 (-37)

Mountain View County: 138 (-3)

Olds: 69 (-3)

Kneehill County: 131 (-3)

County of Stettler: 114 (-3)

VACCINATIONS

Alberta has delivered 6,173,317 vaccine doses as of Oct. 6, up 18,074 in the last day.

84.8 per cent of Alberta’s eligible 12+ population has received at least one dose (72.1% total population), and 75.4 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated (64.1% total population).

In Red Deer, 70,337 (76.7% of eligible & 66.1% *total population) people have received at least one dose, up 154. Meanwhile, 61,964 (67.6%/58.2%) are fully vaccinated with two doses, up 141. (*Government of Alberta uses a population of 106,395 for Red Deer; of those 91,672 are eligible)

PROVINCIAL NUMBERS

The active caseload is now 18,411, down 501 from Wednesday. This with the province adding 1,254 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

With 15,595 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, the seven-day positivity rate is 9.62 per cent.

There are 1,094 people currently in hospital with COVID-19, up 11 from Wednesday, with 248 of those patients in ICU, up one from yesterday.

Of the 846 not in ICU, 549 are unvaccinated, 78 have had one dose, and 219 have had two doses.

Of the 248 in ICU, 206 are unvaccinated, 14 have had one dose, and 28 have had two doses.

There have been 13 additional deaths reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours, bringing the province’s death toll from the virus now to 2,804.

More to come…

(with files from CHAT News Today)

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

COVID numbers: Premier Kenney announces business supports while urging Thanksgiving common sense

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