Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.
Alberta has been a COVID-19 hotspot for much of the pandemic. During the second wave, the province saw infection rates soar higher than any other province and the highest per-capita hospital admissions in the country.
The third wave is turning into a more severe repeat of that, as Alberta once again leads the country – and the continent – for per-capita COVID-19 infections and as hospital admissions climb rapidly. Premier Jason Kenney had resisted putting in lockdown-style restrictions for weeks, instead preferring to turn to more modest measures and waiting to see what impact they had.
By this week, it became clear that the province was headed for a potential catastrophe that could overwhelm the health-care system in a matter of weeks. Mr. Kenney used a televised address on Tuesday evening to lay out a series of restrictions that are the most severe the province has had since the country was plunged into lockdown during the first wave a year ago. Students will learn online and a wide array of businesses will have to close or have their operations limited further.
Mr. Kenney said his province had been working to balance public-health measures with the economic and emotional pain they cause, but he said the current situation in Alberta left him with no choice but to act.
“We will not permit our health-care system to be overwhelmed. We must not and we will not force our doctors and nurses to decide who gets care and who doesn’t,” he said.
The new measures apply to most of the province, except for in a small handful of communities with very low infection rates. The new restrictions include:
- K-12 classes move online on Friday and students won’t return to in-person learning until May 25, after the long weekend.
- Outdoor gatherings are now limited to five people, indoor fitness must close, church services will be capped at 15 people and retailers will be limited to 10-per-cent capacity.
- Non-essential workplaces with three or more consecutive cases must close for 10 days. This rule doesn’t apply to work camps or other critical businesses.
- Restaurant patios, which were permitted to remain open even as in-person dining was shut down, will close Sunday night, as will personal service businesses such as salons.
You can read about all of the new rules on the government of Alberta website.
There were 150 people with COVID-19 in intensive care as of Tuesday, though Mr. Kenney said the province has the capacity to accommodate many more. Health-care officials say they can expand to 425 ICU beds if needed.
The Opposition New Democrats have blamed Mr. Kenney for not taking the pandemic seriously enough and failing to act quickly as infections spiralled out of control.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Mr. Kenney is undermining the ability of people and small businesses to plan by saying restrictions will only last a short time.
“This is confusing and it creates instability, and unpredictability. I don’t think there’s a person out there that thinks two weeks is going to do the trick,” Ms. Notley said.
The response to COVID-19 has been particularly divisive in Alberta, with anti-lockdown protests now a regular feature of many cities and towns, including a rodeo that drew large crowds to an area near Bowden this past weekend. More than a dozen members of Mr. Kenney’s United Conservative Party caucus have objected to public-health measures.
Mr. Kenney’s government loosened public-health measures beginning in February as it permitted restaurants to open, expanded capacity for retailers and churches, opened salons, and allowed more activities in gyms. As the rules were relaxed, infections began to climb.
In early April, the province pulled back by closing indoor dining (patios remain open). Last week, the government shut down in-person classes for junior and high-school students and closed indoor fitness activities in hot-spot areas.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.