Alberta Premier Jason Kenney joined the October 5th COVID-19 update to provide further health measures in schools, third-doses, and emphasized the importance on following the measures into Thanksgiving weekend.

At-home rapid testing for schools and contact notification

 Kenney said rapid tests will be deployed in schools for those in kindergarten to grade 6 in areas of the province that are experiencing more outbreaks and higher rates of people who are unvaccinated.

“These tests work and they are fast. That’s why we will use them to help protect both staff in students province wide. We’ll start with schools experiencing outbreaks in under vaccinated areas and we will build from there. We will be seeking 6 million antigen rapid test kits to help parents administer two tests per week beginning in those higher priority areas,” said Kenney.

Education Minister Adrianna LaGrange added that schools will also be reintroducing contact notification in schools in a phased approach.

“School authorities will support an interim process for contact notification. This will begin after Thanksgiving on October 12th. We will be supporting school authorities as they determine close contacts of individuals who were infectious while attending school. They will notify families of those close contacts,” said LaGrange.

By mid-November, AHS is expected to take over contact notification which will continue to be based in school settings only.

Alberta Health will also be publicly reporting the names of schools who have had at least two cases of COVID-19 starting tomorrow on October 6, 2021. Infection outbreaks at schools will be reported at ten COVID-19 cases or more cases within a 14 day period that were infectious at school.

Third vaccinations now available for those 75 and older

Additionally, Health Minister Jason Copping announced that starting tomorrow anyone aged 75 and older who received their shot six months ago, will be eligible to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccinations. Vaccines will be administered at pharmacies and physician clinics across the province.

At this time, he says third shots do not seem necessary for those in the general population.

Canadian Red Cross sends care teams to Red Deer

President of and CEO of Alberta Health Services, Dr. Verna Yiu confirmed that AHS continues to see elevated numbers of patients in Alberta’s expanded ICU.

“Tomorrow eight Canadian armed forces nurses will begin orientation at the Royal Alexandra ICU. We also have nurses coming from the Canadian Red Cross who will be supporting care teams in Red Deer and in some of our rural facilities. This weekend, we expect to welcome a team from Newfoundland and Labrador who will help support Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort McMurray ,” said Yiu.

She looks forward to having the extra help to ease pressure on the health care facilities. However, she urges Albertans to take caution as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.

Kenney urges Albertans to follow restrictions this Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approaches, the Premier is urging Albertans to reframe from having indoor thanksgiving events this year.

“Indoor gatherings last thanksgiving sparked the second wave of COVID with cases and hospitalizations surging after millions of Albertans celebrated in close contact with loved ones. We simply cannot afford the same scenario not with this dangerous delta variant and not with hospitals under such severe pressure,” said Kenney.

The current restrictions remain in place including the following:

  • No indoor social gatherings are permitted for those who are unvaccinated.
  • No more than two households and up to ten people aged 12 and over can have indoor social gatherings for those who are vaccinated.

The province will be lowering the maximum number of people who can participate in outdoor social gatherings from 200 to 20.

The Premier emphasized the importance of following public health rules during the holiday in order to avoid ruining the province’s progress in getting through this fourth wave of COVID-19.

October 5th new case numbers:

  • 663 new cases of the virus for October 4th
  • 19,456 active cases in Alberta
  • 1,094 people are hospitalized
  • 252 people admitted to ICUs
  • 2,778 total deaths from the virus

 

Active case numbers in the Central Alberta area:

  • 225 active cases in the City of Lacombe
  • 292 active cases in the County of Lacombe
  • 818 active cases in the City of Red Deer
  • 309 active cases in the County of Red Deer
  • 369 active cases in the County of Ponoka
  • 116 active cases in the Town of Sylvan Lake
  • 135 active cases in the County of Stettler

**Not all cases in the Central Zone have been included.