Temporary COVID-19 measures re-instated by province

government-of-alberta

With the province experiencing another wave of COVID-19, an announcement was made putting temporary measures in place to reduce transmission and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The measures will begin at 8 a.m. September 4, 2021.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief medical officer of health had this to say about the temporary measures, “As I have always done, I use the best currently available evidence from Alberta and around the world to inform my recommendations to protect the health of Albertans. With hospitalization rates rising, it is important that we take additional steps to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. My ultimate goal continues to be to shift from pandemic to endemic and put more focus on the complete health of Albertans – we must learn to live with COVID. Getting vaccinated today is the best possible way for us to get there.”

Currently, more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases in hospital are unvaccinated, including 91 per cent of patients in intensive care.

Temporary measures

  •  masks mandatory for all indoor public spaces and workplaces. Schools are not required to implement masking but school boards will continue to set COVID-19 management policies as they deem appropriate.

 

  •  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.

No Time was given as to how long these measures will be in place for.

-Calvin Hector, Trending 55 Newsroom