CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Alberta will be delaying its move into Step 3 of the path forward plan as hospitalizations and variant cases rise in the province.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro kicked off Monday’s update by clearly laying out the province’s reasoning behind the move.
WATCH LIVE: Health Minister Tyler Shandro joins Dr. Deena Hinshaw for Monday’s COVID-19 update
He says based on transmission rates, it is expected the province will see over 300 hospitalizations in the next week.
“This is the safe move, it’s the smart move to make for our province right now, and it is absolutely necessary to help us avoid a third wave that would take more lives and once again put more pressure on the hospital system,” said Shandro.
He adds it would be unfair to ease restrictions now, just to reinstate them later on.
Shandro says we've had 7 days of continued hospitalization growth.
Alberta hasn't seen this since 40 straight days of increases since October 30- the start of the second wave.
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) March 22, 2021
Shandro then took aim at the vaccine rollout across the country and how the slow delivery of shots to Alberta is keeping the province locked down.
“Vaccinations are the path out of the pandemic, but the fact is they didn’t start coming fast enough or in large enough amounts,” Shandro said. “The fact is, we haven’t received enough vaccines from the federal government to fully protect those who are most likely to end up in a hospital.”
The move, or lack thereof, from the province, comes as 110 new cases of the B.1.1.7 variant were identified over the last 24 hours, with 456 total cases of COVID-19 being reported on Monday.
Currently, there are 280 people in hospital fighting the virus, with 48 people now in the ICU.
A common misconception addressed by Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Tyler Shandro is the demographic of those fighting the virus in hospital.
Currently, 46 per cent of the people fighting the virus in hospital are under the age of 65, while 88 per cent of those in the ICU are under 65.
UPDATED:
110 new variant cases in Alberta, now up to 1711 total to date.
979 active cases – representing 15.6% of all active cases.
715 recovered, 17 have died
(10,146 specimens screened)#Yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/TLvFW9gMS6
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) March 22, 2021
Dr. Hinshaw addressed the variants of concern and how they have become the dominant variants in some parts of the world.
Currently, variant cases represent 20 to 25 per cent of the daily case count, up significantly from the number of cases the province was seeing at the beginning of March.
Dr. Hinshaw says the only way to slow its growth is to follow public health measures.
When it comes to vaccination numbers in the province, 487,493 doses have now been administered with over 70,000 appointments already booked for this week.
This week the province is beginning the final stages of Phase 2A, which will see everyone ages 65 and older offered a vaccine.
Following the update from the province regarding the delay in moving in to Step 3, the President and CEO of Cineplex, Ellis Jacob, responded:
| We are extremely frustrated and disappointed with today’s announcement. This is devastating news to the more than one thousand Albertans who make up our workforce across our 19 theatres in the province, all of whom are presently out of work. Despite being indisputably one of the safest forms of public gathering – safer than any restaurant, big box retailer, or other indoor venue – the government of Alberta continues to shutter movie theatres for reasons they either can’t justify or just won’t disclose.
The facts are very straight forward. There have been zero known cases of COVID-19 transmission in any movie theatre anywhere in the world. The seats face one direction and are reserved in advance in accordance with physical distancing requirements. The auditoriums are immense spaces with high ceilings, guest counts are controlled through showtime scheduling and patrons are encouraged to remain silent in addition to wearing masks. There is no business that better lends itself to controlling customer flow, ensuring physical distancing, and providing Albertans with a much needed entertainment experience, given the fact that they’ve been stuck inside for months. Cineplex has a proven track record of operating our theatres safely for our employees and guests, and we, and all Canadians, just want to get back to that. Today’s decision is beyond disappointing and unfair.” |
