Health Minister Tyler Shandro. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Alberta’s State of Public Health Emergency ending, but COVID-19 restrictions still in place

Jun 15, 2020 | 3:50 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta is putting an end to the State of Public Health Emergency over COVID-19, which was enacted March 15.

“We faced an enormous test and our province passed with flying colours. Albertans met this challenge the same way that we meet every task – we took it seriously and we did the right thing,” says Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

He explains that the State of Public Health Emergency gave the province the tools needed to react to the pandemic.

It allowed Alberta Health to support long-term care facilities and for health inspectors to enter any part of an airport to ensure compliance with health and safety measures, as just a couple of examples.

“Due to the remarkable success of our province, the vast majority of our emergency measures were taken under the regular Public Health Act.”

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Shandro says, due to Alberta’s success in combatting COVID-19, the State of the Public Health Emergency is no longer needed.

“While the state of emergency is lapsing, it does not remove or impact the existing orders that Dr. Hinshaw has put in place nor does it impact her ability to issue additional orders as they may be needed in the days ahead.”

The Minister of Health adds that, while the state of emergency is ending, COVID-19 is still in the province and urged the public to remain vigilant.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided the daily COVID-19 update for Monday, June 15.

20 new infections were confirmed over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 7,453. Of those, 440 cases are still active while 6,862 people have recovered.

31 patients are currently hospitalized, seven of whom have been admitted to intensive care units (ICU).

One more Albertan has died from the virus, although the province did not state where the person was from. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of 151 people in the province.

The regional breakdown is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 5,097 cases, 214 active
  • 111 deaths
  • 20 in hospital, four in ICU
  • 142,158 tests
• South zone – 1,277 cases, 24 active
  • 10 deaths
  • 23,439 tests
• Edmonton zone – 714 cases, 175 active
  • 13 deaths
  • Eight in hospital, two in ICU
  • 87,505 tests
• North zone – 265 cases, 24 active
  • 16 deaths
  • Three in hospital, one in ICU
  • 24,049 tests
• Central zone – 88 cases, two active
  • One death
  • 24,626 tests

As for the breakdown for the South Health Zone, the province recently changed the way they display information on the geospatial map, which is how we get the information for this. Due to this change, some of the local numbers may be off from what we have previously reported.

• Brooks – 1,118 cases, two active, nine deaths
• Medicine Hat – 36 cases, one active
• Lethbridge – 34 cases, five active
  • South Lethbridge – 14 cases, one active
  • West Lethbridge – 14 cases, one active
  • North Lethbridge – Six cases, three active
• Cardston County – 32 cases, 11 active, one death
• Cypress County – 21 cases, zero active
• County of Newell – 20 cases, zero active
• Fort Macleod – Nine cases, three active
• Lethbridge County – Two cases, two active
• M.D. of Taber – Two cases, zero active
• County of Forty Mile – Two cases, zero active