Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Friday, Sept. 17
Alberta hospitals are being told to find non-intensive care beds that can be used for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19 as the number of patients in hospital across the province with COVID-19 reaches 896, including 222 in intensive care.
Alberta patients may be transferred to Ontario as hospitals bear down under COVID-19's 4th wave
The latest on Alberta's COVID-19 response:
- Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, provided an update on the province's health-care system Thursday saying the fourth wave has resulted in the sharpest increase of ICU patients since the the pandemic began in early 2020.
- "We do not have an endless number of staff who can provide critical care," Yiu said.
- AHS is working to find ways to increase capacity.
- Premier Jason Kenney said Wednesday the province may run out of staffed intensive care beds within the next 10 days.
- Health-care workers have been asked to identify any spaces that can be used as an ICU bed, Yiu said. This includes spaces such as operating rooms, post-anesthesia care units, observation spaces and recovery wards.
- Ontario and Alberta are in discussions about a potential transfer of patients if needed, Yiu said.
- B.C. says it won't be able to take any of Alberta's intensive care unit patients at a time when that province's own hospitals are also struggling.
- Without surge beds, Alberta's provincial ICU capacity would be at 155 per cent.
- As of Friday afternoon, Alberta had 19,201 active cases.
- The premier announced Wednesday that Alberta is once again in a state of public health emergency.
- Kenney's government is imposing strict and sweeping measures (see details below) to combat the province's fourth wave of COVID-19 and stave off the ongoing crisis in the health-care system. The measures include a proof-of-vaccination program.
Watch: Calgarians react to the new restrictions:
- The premier began his remarks Wednesday with a brief apology for his United Conservative Party government's controversial decision to be the first of all provinces to lift almost all public-health restrictions tied to COVID-19 at the start of July and declare Alberta "Open for summer."
- Kenney told the news conference Wednesday that his decision to move from a pandemic-to-endemic approach seemed like the right thing to do based on data from other jurisdictions with similar vaccination rates. "It is now clear that we were wrong, and for that I apologize," Kenney said.
- However, Kenney later qualified that apology, saying that while it was a mistake to switch from pandemic management to endemic management too soon, he didn't believe it was wrong to lift almost all public health restrictions in July. "No, I don't apologize for the decision to relax public health restrictions in the summer … when numbers were declining and vaccine numbers were going up," he said. The COVID-19 numbers began to rise exponentially about two weeks after Alberta lifted all restrictions.
- Even though Kenney and the UCP government have for months opposed repeated calls from doctors, the Opposition NDP and business groups to introduce a provincial vaccine passport as some other provinces have done, Kenney said Wednesday his government has "reluctantly decided" to institute what it called a "proof-of-vaccination" program.
- Businesses and social events that are eligible can choose whether to implement this program, called the Restrictions Exemption Program (REP). If they do, vaccine-eligible Albertans will be required to provide government-issued proof of immunization or a negative COVID-19 test to patronize businesses and social events and it will be largely business as usual for the vaccinated.
- Negative COVID-19 tests from Alberta Health are not applicable as part of the "vaccination exemption program," Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said Thursday. Tests must be privately paid for.
WATCH | Kenney introduces new measures to stop spread of COVID-19:
- To enter these establishments, which include restaurants, bars and indoor organized events, people aged 12 and older will be required to show their proof of vaccination or a recent negative test result.
- A QR code for proof of vaccination will be made available in the coming weeks, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said — similar to the vaccine passport systems announced months ago by Quebec and weeks ago by B.C. The printable immunization record on the My Health Alberta website will not be available until Sunday morning, Shandro said, as improvements to the website are being made.
- Kenney also said he's proud of how Alberta has handled the pandemic compared to much of the rest of the world, saying that up until now, the province's fatality rate has been lower than the Canadian average and much lower than that in the U.S. and some other countries without "damaging restrictions."
How the restrictions and exemptions will work:
Some of the broad strokes of the new restrictions include:
As of Sept. 16:
- Private social gatherings:
- Indoor private gatherings for vaccine-eligible, fully vaccinated people are limited to a single household plus one other household to a maximum of 10 people, with no restrictions on children under the age of 12.
- Attendance at any indoor private social gathering is not permitted for vaccine-eligible individuals who are unvaccinated.
- Outdoor private social gatherings are permitted to a maximum of 200 people, with two-metre physical distancing maintained at all times.
- Workplaces:
- Work-from-home measures are mandatory unless the employer has decided a physical presence is required for operational reasons.
- Places of worship:
- Must limit attendance to one-third fire code capacity.
- Face masks will be mandatory and there must be two-metre physical distancing between households or two close contacts for those living alone.
- Outdoor events:
- No attendance restrictions, but two-metre physical distancing adhered to.
- Schools (K-12):
- Mandatory masking for students in Grades 4 and up, as well as staff and teachers in all grades. Schools that can implement an alternate COVID safety plan can be exempted from mandatory masking.
- Elementary schools must implement class cohorting.
- For physical activities in schools, youth aged 18 and under are not required to mask or maintain two-metre distance when engaged in physical activity.
- There are no restrictions on outdoor activities.
- Indoor sports/performance/recreation/special interests are permitted with requirements for two-metre physical distancing, where possible.
As of Sept. 20:
- Restaurants:
- Restaurants that choose to implement the Restrictions Exemption Program can operate as usual when it comes to vaccine-eligible Albertans with proof of vaccination.
- Otherwise:
- Outdoor dining only with a maximum of six individuals per table (one household or two close contacts for those living alone).
- Liquor sales to end at 10 p.m. and consumption at 11 p.m.
- Weddings and funerals:
- Hosting facilities that choose to implement the Restrictions Exemption Program can operate as usual when it comes to vaccine-eligible Albertans with proof of vaccination.
- Otherwise:
- All indoor ceremonies and services are limited to 50 attendees or 50 per cent fire code capacity, whichever is less.
- No indoor receptions are permitted.
- All outdoor ceremonies and services for weddings and funerals must be limited to 200 attendees.
- Retail, entertainment and recreation facilities such as libraries, nightclubs and casinos:
- Hosting facilities that choose to implement the Restrictions Exemption Program can operate as usual when it comes to vaccine-eligible Albertans with proof of vaccination.
- Otherwise:
- Limited to one-third fire code capacity, attendees are only permitted to attend with their household or two close contacts for those living alone.
- People must be masked and keep two-metre physical distancing between households.
- Adult sports, fitness and recreation:
- Facilities that implement the Restrictions Exemption Program can operate as usual when it comes to vaccine-eligible Albertans with proof of vaccination.
- Otherwise:
- No indoor group classes or activities are permitted.
- One-on-one training or individual workouts are permitted but three-metre physical distancing is required.
- No contact between players; no indoor competitions except where case-by-case vaccine exemptions have been granted.
- A full list of restrictions and exemptions is available on the government's website.
The latest COVID-19 numbers:
- Alberta reported 2,020 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, out of 17,327 tests.
- Alberta reported 18 more deaths from COVID on Friday. A total of 2,523 Albertans have died of COVID-19.
- The positivity rate was 10.6 per cent.
- The province is leading the country by a wide margin in daily new COVID cases and active cases.
- There were 19,201 active cases across Alberta, the highest count in the country.
- By comparison, Ontario, a province with more than three times the population, has one-third the number of active cases.
- There were 911 people being treated in hospital, 215 of whom were in intensive care beds.
- Of those in hospital, 78 per cent are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated, Hinshaw said Thursday.
- The R-value, which represents the average number of people infected by each infected person, was 1.12 (with a confidence interval of 1.1 to 1.14) for Aug. 30 to Sept. 5.
- 255,834 Albertans are considered to have recovered from COVID-19.
- Critically ill patients are now regularly being airlifted out of the Red Deer hospital as it fills up with COVID-19 patients. The number of COVID patients in the hospital there jumped 65 per cent in the last week.
- The province is preparing to activate its triage protocol, which means health-care workers will have to decide which patients are given potentially life-saving interventions like ventilators.
- Non-emergency surgeries have been cut by as much as 60 per cent provincewide and the Calgary health zone has cancelled all non-urgent procedures for the rest of the week.
- After cancelling in-person learning for the rest of this week in the wake of the new provincial rules, the University of Calgary announced Thursday that its on-campus classes will resume Sept. 20 because its previously announced protocols — including mandatory masking, vaccination or enrolment in regular rapid testing — has been determined to meet the province's standards for exemption from the restrictions.
- Both SAIT and Mount Royal University (MRU) in Cagary likewise announced late Thursday that they are adopting the provincial government's Restrictions Exemption Program and will be returning to in-person learning.
- Multiple Alberta post-secondaries had announced late Wednesday that they were cancelling all in-person classes for the remainder of this week, in response to the provincial government implementing new COVID-19 restrictions and declaring a state of emergency.
- There are ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks at a number of primary and secondary schools across the province.
The latest on vaccines:
- The Alberta premier said COVID-19 vaccine bookings have nearly tripled in the province since he announced the new passport system. Kenney said in a Facebook live video that nearly 25,000 vaccine appointments were recorded by last evening — a jump of about 166 per cent from two days prior.
- As of Friday, 61 per cent of all Albertans (or 71.8 per cent of those eligible) have received two doses of a COVID vaccine, and 68.1 per cent of all Albertans (or 80.1 per cent of those eligible) have received at least one dose.
- Those are still the lowest numbers in the country, save for Nunavut. Canada-wide, 68.9 per cent of the total population (or 78.8 per cent of those eligible) have received two doses of vaccine, and 74.9 per cent of the total population (or 85.6 per cent of those eligible) received at least one dose, according to the CBC's vaccine tracker.
- Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says pregnant people are at high risk of very serious illness and are urging them to get their COVID-19 vaccinations. An unvaccinated pregnant Alberta woman died from a COVID-related infection following admission into intensive care units, sources familiar with the death say.
- Dr. Eliana Castillo, a clinical associate professor with the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medicine at the University of Calgary, says the proportion of unvaccinated pregnant women in Alberta admitted into the ICU is rising dramatically as the pandemic surges.
- Alberta Health Services announced on Sept. 7 it would require all employees and contracted health-care providers — including physicians — to be fully vaccinated.
- The Alberta government is making a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine available for immunocompromised Albertans and for all seniors living in congregate care facilities.
- In addition, mRNA doses — that's Pfizer or Moderna — will be made available to Albertans travelling to a jurisdiction that does not accept visitors vaccinated with AstraZeneca, Covishield, or mixed doses.
See which regions are being hit hardest:
Here is the detailed regional breakdown of active cases as reported by the province on Friday.
- Edmonton zone: 5,467.
- Calgary zone: 5,468.
- North zone: 3,237.
- Central zone: 3,080.
- South zone: 1,919.
- Unknown: 30.
Here are the latest Alberta COVID-19 stories:
With files from The Canadian Press