COVID-19 Weekly Regional Update
Michelle Pinon
News Advertiser
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced additional public health measures on November 13.
According to the Province, the targetted measures are designed to help protect the health care system and keep schools and businesses open as well as protect vulnerable Albertans. It includes all regions under watch or enhanced status and will be in place from Nov. 13-27.
“The measures in place right now are literally a matter of life and death and the choices Albertans are making now will determine our future in a few weeks. Over the past 24 hours we have identified 860 new cases of COVID-19 and completed just over 12,000 tests. I know this next while will be challenging, but as we have seen with recent numbers it is critical that we all continue to do our part and look at changes that we can make to our daily lives to reduce transmission,” stated Dr. Hinshaw during her Nov. 16 update.
All restaurants, bars, lounges are required to stop liquor sales by 10 pm and close by 11 pm. There will be a two week ban on group fitness classes, team sport activities and group performance activities in Edmonton and Calgary and surrounding areas as well as the cities of Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Fort McMurray, and Red Deer. Attendance at wedding and funeral ceremonies will be limited to no more than 50 people in those regions. For offices that are able, to reduce the number of employees in the workplace at one time.
For communities with watch and enhanced status, they are to avoid any social gatherings in their homes and to avoid attending social gatherings outside of their communities.
Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk commented, “The Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dena Hinshaw has worked with her expert team to come up with the guidelines she has set out for the Province. Her team is closely monitoring the effectiveness of this situation and will give updates when required. Areas in Strathcona County and the city of Fort Saskatchewan are on the enhanced list, however we are fortunate that most communities in our Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville constituency are not currently at risk.”
As of Nov. 16 there were 40,962 total cases in Alberta with 10,068 active cases and 30,462 recovered cases. There were 268 people in hospital, with 57 people in intensive care. Twenty new deaths were reported for a total of 432 deaths.
In Veg/Minburn County there were 20 cases, 4 active cases, 16 recovered cases and 0 deaths. In Two Hills County there were 23 cases, 3 active cases, 19 recovered cases, and 1 death. In Lamont County there were 23 cases, 5 active cases, 18 recovered cases, and 0 deaths. In Beaver County East there were 75 cases, 1 active case, 74 recovered cases, and 0 deaths. In Beaver County West there were 25 cases, 0 active cases, 25 recovered cases, and 0 deaths.
There were active alerts or outbreaks in 309 schools, with 1,046 active cases, about 13 percent of all schools in Alberta. That included 65 schools that were on the watch list.