Starting Saturday, masks will be required in indoor spaces and licensed establishments will need to end liquor sales at 10 p.m.
Author of the article: Ashley Joannou, Lisa Johnson
Publishing date: Sep 03, 2021 •
Publishing date: Sep 03, 2021 •
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney urged unvaccinated Albertans to get the shot at Friday's news conference, announcing those who do will receive $100 gift cards.
PHOTO BY CHRIS SCHWARZ/GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA
Alberta is mandating masks in indoor public spaces, setting a curfew on liquor sales and offering $100 to unvaccinated people who get the COVID-19 vaccine, all in an effort to stem a fourth-wave surge.
Alberta is mandating masks in indoor public spaces, setting a curfew on liquor sales and offering $100 to unvaccinated people who get the COVID-19 vaccine, all in an effort to stem a fourth-wave surge.
IT'S NOT $100 CASH IT'S A FRIGGEN GIFT CARD. THEY OFFERED A MILLION EARLIERIN FACT SOMEONE WON THAT LOTTERY YESTERDAY.
Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services CEO Dr. Verna Yiu announced the measures Friday, saying the spread of the virus, particularly among unvaccinated Albertans, is putting pressure on the health-care system.
Intensive care unit capacity is currently at 95 per cent provincewide and 97 per cent in Edmonton.
“It is clear that we are at risk of exceeding our province’s ICU capacity if we do not make changes to our approach now,” Hinshaw said.
Starting Saturday at 8 a.m., masks will be mandatory in all indoor public spaces and workplaces, however schools will continue to follow rules set by boards.
Also starting Saturday, restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, nightclubs and other licensed establishments will be required to end alcohol service at 10 p.m.
The officials said the measures would be temporary but did not give a date for when they expect to lift them.
A one-time incentive of a $100 gift card will be available for all Albertans age 18 or older who receive a first or second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine between Sept. 3 and Oct. 14.
When asked about the message the incentive sends to those who are already fully immunized, Kenney said the government was leaving “no stone left unturned.”
“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgements – this is a time to get people vaccinated. We have done everything we can,” Kenney claimed, pointing to previous vaccination efforts.
“If you just haven’t gotten around to it, for the love of God please get vaccinated now – and if you do, we will pay you $100.”
The premier estimated the gift cards would cost $20 million.
Kenney defended his government’s decision to implement less aggressive restrictions than during previous waves by saying the province was dealing with a smaller population of unvaccinated people.
But he acknowledged that Alberta’s vaccination rates are about five percentage points below the Canadian average.
“That is why we’re getting hit harder. If the choice is between a sustained crisis in our hospitals or, God forbid, widespread restrictions, which I want to avoid at all costs, or finding some way to get the attention of those vaccine latecomers, we’re going to choose the latter,” said Kenney.
Just over seventy per cent of Albertans 12 and older have received both of their doses of vaccine, and 78.3 per cent have received at least one dose.
Officials are also recommending that unvaccinated Albertans limit indoor social gatherings to close contacts of only two cohort families, up to a maximum of 10 people.
Modelling released
Friday was the first time Kenney, Hinshaw and Shandro addressed the media in weeks, during which COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the province have skyrocketed. Alberta now leads the country in per capita cases.
On Aug. 9, when Kenney had last appeared, the province reported 244 new cases, 129 hospitalizations and 26 patients in the ICU.
On Friday, Alberta reported 1,401 new cases, its highest daily count since May 13, 515 hospitalizations and 118 in intensive care.
Modelling released Friday shows Alberta could meet or exceed ICU peaks seen during previous waves. As a result, AHS is cancelling non-essential surgeries across all five medical zones in the province. Up to 50 per cent of procedures in Edmonton will be affected.
Routine COVID-19 testing and mandatory isolation requirements were supposed to end Sept. 27, but it is unclear if that is still the plan.
Support for vaccine passports
Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba have rolled out or announced vaccine passports, which require proof of immunization in order to access non-essential businesses – a move Kenney has vehemently rejected.
Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the Premier’s decision to implement restrictions instead of passports will slow the province’s economic recovery.
“The premier says he is leaving no stone unturned. That is a lie,” said Notley at an afternoon press conference.
Dr. Noel Gibney, co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association’s pandemic committee, doesn’t think the measures are enough and was disappointed they didn’t include a vaccine passport program.
“They’ve been begging people to get vaccinated for months. That isn’t working….If you can’t get people to do it by request, then you have to make it difficult for them if they don’t do it,” he said.
Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jeffrey Sundquist said businesses are now paying the price for those who’ve chosen to remain unvaccinated.
“Restricting what they can sell at certain times of the day has an impact on their bottom line,” he said.
Katy Ingraham, spokeswoman for the Canadian Restaurant Workers Coalition, said the curfew will also be devastating for workers who will see their hours cut.
“They’re having the rug ripped out from under them in terms of income they could have anticipated this weekend,” said Ingraham.
“This is just a huge slap in the face to many overworked hospitality workers who are doing their best in an increasingly dangerous environment.”
Ingraham said she is seeking a government exemption to the curfew for her restaurant Fleisch Delikatessen, because it already requires proof of vaccination from patrons to dine indoors.
Without vaccine passports, Gibney foresees more restrictions like reducing capacity limits in stores or ending indoor dining.
“Because they haven’t dealt with this properly, it is the inevitable thing that will happen,” he said.
Seventy-seven per cent of Albertans who responded to a Leger poll released this week said they either somewhat or strongly supported vaccine passports, although 20 per cent of strongly opposed them – the highest rate among provinces.
City reviewing office plan
Meanwhile, the government is asking employers to pause return-to-office plans.
All City of Edmonton employees were to go back as of Sept. 20, a plan acting city manager Stephanie McCabe said will now be reviewed.
Edmonton’s mask bylaw was reinstated Friday morning after being deactivated since July 1. The province’s mandate will take effect over the city’s, but peace officers will still be able to enforce and issue $100 fines for violations.
With files from Dustin Cook
Fri., September 3, 2021,
EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney, two months after declaring victory over COVID-19, is offering $100 to Albertans who aren't vaccinated to try to curb nation-leading cases of the illness that have again pushed the province's hospitals to the brink.
Kenney said 70 per cent of eligible Albertans are fully vaccinated, and 78 per cent have had one shot, but immunization rates are stalling and the unvaccinated are swamping hospital beds.
He defended the $100 payout — to those over 18 who get their first or second vaccine doses — against accusations it's unfair to those who already are fully vaccinated.
"I wish we didn't have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgments. This is a time to get people vaccinated," Kenney said Friday in Calgary.
He noted past incentives, including three $1-million lotteries, have not adequately moved the vaccination needle.
"We have left no stone unturned and yet we have the lowest vaccination rate in Canada," Kenney said.
"I’m much more concerned about protecting our hospitals than I am about some abstract message that this ($100) sends."
The government is also bringing back a provincewide mask mandate for all indoor public spaces and workplaces, except in classrooms, where decisions are up to school boards.
Licensed bars, restaurants and pubs must stop alcohol sales by 10 p.m., and all businesses are being asked to rethink having staff return to work.
It's being recommended unvaccinated people limit close contacts to 10 people or less.
Alberta has been experienced an increase in cases averaging more than 1,000 a day for the past week — the highest in Canada.
The province reported Friday that there were 515 COVID-19 patients in hospital, 118 of them in intensive care. That's double the numbers from 11 days ago.
The fourth wave has been fuelled by the more contagious Delta variant. The result has been emergency room bed closures, patient transfers and cancelled elective surgeries.
Alberta Health Services announced another round of surgery cancellations Friday as intensive care units filled to 95 per cent of capacity.
"It is tight," said Dr. Verna Yiu, head of Alberta Health Services, the province's health-care provider.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said: "It is clear we are at risk of exceeding our province's ICU capacity if we do not make changes."
Kenney's United Conservative government has declined to bring in a vaccine passport as is being done in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba to encourage vaccination. In those provinces, proof is required to enter bars, restaurants and sports events.
The premier has said there are concerns those rules violate health privacy, but noted some businesses and professional sports teams in the province will require fans to show proof of vaccination.
The Opposition NDP said a vaccine passport is needed and could be downloaded online or on smartphones. Leader Rachel Notley said Kenney needs to act on it now rather than get left behind.
"The premier has failed — again. He has brought Alberta to a place of imminent danger to our health-care system," Notley said in Lethbridge, Alta.
"Jason Kenney is choosing to pay the angry mobs who are literally protesting outside our hospitals blocking ambulances, while cutting the wages of the nurses who are working inside of them."
Kenney's government is seeking to reduce the wages of nurses in the current round of collective bargaining.
The province has not brought in new rules since lifting all but a handful of health measures July 1. Municipalities, universities, schools boards, sports teams and businesses have introduced their own rules on masking, testing and vaccinations.
This is the third time in four waves of the pandemic that Kenney’s government has been criticized for failing to act until numbers hit dangerous levels.
In May, doctors were briefed on how to triage patients as the third wave pushed hospitals to the breaking point before Kenney brought in renewed health restrictions.
Kenney declared victory over the virus on June 18 and announced almost all health restrictions would be lifted, the first province to do so. He cited the fact that 70 per cent of eligible Albertans had received at least one vaccine dose.
On Friday, the premier was asked if he regrets declaring COVID-19 was manageable.
“We made a decision based on the evidence in front of us,” said Kenney, who added that he relied on Hinshaw's advice.
Political scientist Duane Bratt said Kenney's $100 plan appears driven by an ideological reluctance to impose any health restrictions — a move that could result in more strife.
"I don't think it’s going to play out well," said Bratt of Mount Royal University in Calgary.
"Not only are you bribing the unvaccinated, who are the cause of the problem, you are punishing everybody else.
"We're already seeing a clash between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in society. This is going to accentuate it even more."
The effects of the new health orders were immediate.
Calgary-based musician Jesse Peters said he got vaccinated as soon as possible, but has now been told a number of his bookings have been cancelled due to the 10 p.m. alcohol cutoff.
"You don't want to hate people and you don't want to demonize people, but at the same time I think ... 'Could you please, for the love of God, just do this bare minimum thing so that we can feed our families and get back to work?'" said Peters.
In Edmonton, musician Mike Grier said: "To, again, be kind of pandering to the lowest common denominator is a little ridiculous, especially when we've seen in other jurisdictions that vaccine passports really drive vaccination rates.
"Alberta," he said, "is always choosing to do the most ridiculous thing."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2021.
— With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton
Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
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