Albertans asked to cut down contacts over holidays, plus temporary targeted measures

As well, interactive activities at those venues, such as dancing, darts and billiards are not allowed, and liquor service must end at 11 p.m. The restaurants, bars and pubs must close at 12:30 a.m.

Venues that seat more than 1,000 people and are participating in the Restrictions Exemption Program will be capped at 1,000 people. Locally, this will affect most notably the IIHF World Junior Champonship, taking place at the Peavey Mart Centrium and Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. It could also impact Red Deer Rebels and Blackfalds Bulldogs games should measures stay in place.

Venues with capacity of between 500 and 1,000 occupants, are limited to 500 people. Food or drink consumption in seated audience settings or during intermissions in the above-mentioned venues is not permitted.

Statement from Hockey Canada on Tuesday afternoon.

There is no impact on venues under 500.

Alberta is expanding eligibility of COVID-19 booster doses and the availability of rapid test kits.

Premier Jason Kenney said the COVID-19 situation in Alberta has continued to evolve and Albertans must protect themselves and the health-care system from the Omicron variant

Active cases in Alberta have risen by nearly 50 per cent in one week, while the positivity rate that was near three per cent for most of the month has risen to 11 per cent.

“We’ve also seen a rise in the number of confirmed Omicron cases in the province and the proportion of total cases identified as the new variant is growing quickly,” Kenney said during the Tuesday update. “Between the third and ninth of December, it represented just one per cent of all cases. Between the tenth and sixteenth of December, about 22 per cent of all new cases in Alberta were Omicron.”

“Between December 16th and 18th, Omicron represented roughly 52 per cent of all cases,” Kenney added.

The premier said data continues to emerge and is being closely studied, but what is known is the variant is more transmissible than any previous strain of the virus.

Kenney said the interval was moved from six to five months in order to protect Albertans urgently. He said evidence is becoming available about the potential for re-infection among those who’ve had previous strains and breakthrough infections in those vaccinated.

The number of sites available to book vaccines across the province will be expanded and they’ll work with community groups and large employers to make getting a booster as convenient as possible, said Kenney.

The premier also announced the province will attempt to get 10 million rapid tests to supplement what is being provided by the federal government. He said they hope those will be available to Albertans in early January.

Alberta NDP Health Critic David Shepherd issued the following statement in response to Tuesday’s Omicron update:

“Once again, under the threat of a deeply serious fifth wave, we find this Premier choosing to act last and act least. While we are glad to see the UCP government finally expand booster-shot availability and commit to providing more rapid tests, when it comes to the restrictions—especially the ones that were loosened just last week—this Premier is way off course.

“Jason Kenney and his UCP government are gambling with the lives and livelihoods of Albertans by refusing to reverse their reckless decision to give unvaccinated Albertans their blessing to gather indoors. Particularly as Dr. Hinshaw said today that Omicron constitutes a “critical threat” to our province, with the ability to overwhelm our health system.

“Meanwhile, other provinces are going further to protect their citizens in the face of record-breaking case counts, west and east. I want to be clear, our Caucus is not calling for wide-spread, hard lockdowns but if other provinces are doing more to stop the spread, why does Jason Kenney believe Alberta should be doing less in the face of this variant than anywhere else?

“And if he’s wrong, how many Albertans will pay for his mistake?”

“We still haven’t recovered from the last time the Premier put his own politics ahead of public health. It’s a shame we’re doing it all over again.”

STATISTICS

CENTRAL ZONE

Red Deer has 100 active cases of COVID-19, up five from Monday.

Meantime, recoveries in Red Deer rose by three to 9,373 as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to Red Deer rose by eight in the last day to 9,557.

Red Deer’s death toll stemming from COVID-19 is 84, with none reported today.

The Central Zone as a whole has 464 active cases as of Monday, down 28 in the last day.

There are 61 hospitalizations, up one, and seven people receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital, the same as yesterday.

Central Zone has recorded 412 deaths, including none reported in the last day.

Active cases across Central Zone (one-day change)

Red Deer County: 21 (–)

Sylvan Lake: 6 (–)

Lacombe County: 21 (–)

City of Lacombe: 19 (+1)

Ponoka County: 15 (-1)

Brazeau County: 6 (-4)

Clearwater County: 29 (-4)

Mountain View County: 28 (-1)

Olds: 13 (–)

Kneehill County: 7 (–)

County of Stettler: 96 (-2)

PROVINCIAL NUMBERS

The active caseload is now 6,045, up 393 from Monday. This with the province adding 786 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

There have now been 1,609 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, up 564 in the last day. Just 29 have been identified in Central Zone, with 972 in Calgary Zone and 547 in Edmonton Zone.

With 7,305 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, the seven-day positivity rate is 7.1 per cent. The one-day positivity rate is over 11 per cent. It was just above three per cent, the premier noted, to start the month.

There are 329 people currently in hospital with COVID-19, up five from Monday, with 69 of those patients in ICU, the same as yesterday.

There have been two additional deaths reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours, bringing the province’s death toll from the virus now to 3,294.

SCHOOL OUTBREAK ALERT/OUTBREAK LIST

VACCINATIONS

Alberta has delivered 7,356,384 vaccine doses as of Dec. 20, up 32,825 in the last day.

Of the 5+ population, 83.8 per cent has received at least one dose (78.7% total population), while 77.2 per cent is now fully vaccinated (72.6% total population).

A total of 675,714 booster (third) shots have been administered, up 26,157.

*Local numbers below now reflect percentages based on the number of people in Red Deer who are 5+, which recently changed from 12+, therefore numbers may be lower than they had been; the Government of Alberta says 100,446 people in Red Deer are eligible for vaccination, with a population of 106,420.

In Red Deer, 76,612 (76.3% eligible/72.0% total population) people have received at least one dose, up 66.

Meanwhile, 71,857 (71.5% eligible/67.5% total population) residents are fully vaccinated, up 43.

by Josh Hall (rdnewsNOW) & Chris Brown (CHAT News Today)

Albertans asked to cut down contacts over holidays, plus temporary targeted measures

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