Personal services can reopen by appointment Jan. 18, some outdoor social gatherings

Also on Monday, outdoor social gatherings of no more than 10 people will be allowed.

The province will allow up to 20 people to attend funeral services. Masking and physical distancing will continue to be required.

“Although we’ve seen a decline in transmission, our health-care system is still at risk,” says Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. “We must remain diligent in our efforts to bring our numbers down even further. By easing some measures like outdoor gathering limits, we hope to support Albertans’ mental health, while still following other restrictions that are helping us reduce case numbers.”

A press release from the province states that provincial and regional trends will continue to be assessed over the coming weeks to determine if further easing of restrictions is warranted.

As well, Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation Doug Schweitzer says they are expanding the eligibility for the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant to include new companies that started up in March 2020 or afterward.

“They will now be eligible for up to $15,000 of the relaunch grant. That program will be online in the first week of February.”

Companies are eligible if they have seen a 30 per cent drop during the pandemic.

Alberta Health Services also released its COVID-19 update for Thursday, detailing the numbers compiled over the past 24 hours.

967 cases were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 114,585. Among those, 12,434 cases are active while 100,762 people have recovered.

In the South Zone, 49 people tested positive including 14 in Cardston County and 13 in Lethbridge.

Active infections across the region and in Lethbridge specifically grew slightly.

Since yesterday’s update, 21 Albertans died from COVID including 12 in the Edmonton Zone, four in the Calgary Zone, three in the North Zone, and one each in the South and Central Zones.

The person in the South Zone was a resident of Medicine Hat.

Provincially, 806 patients are currently hospitalized and 136 have been admitted to intensive care.

With another 16,219 tests completed in the past day, there has now been a total of 2,982,611 tests conducted on 1,704,911 different people.

As of the end of the day on January 13, 66,953 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Below is a breakdown of cases per health zone:

Edmonton Zone – 48,413 cases, 4,570 active
- 409 in hospital, 60 in ICU
- 735 deaths (12 new)
Calgary Zone – 43,885 cases, 4,691 active
- 220 in hospital, 46 in ICU
- 440 deaths (four new)
North Zone – 8,793 cases, 1,635 active
- 77 in hospital, eight in ICU
- 83 deaths (three new)
Central Zone – 7,960 cases, 1,152 active
- 75 in hospital, 15 in ICU
- 65 deaths (one new)
South Zone – 5,399 cases, 362 active
- 25 in hospital, seven in ICU
- 66 deaths (one new)

Below is a breakdown of cases in the South Health Zone:

Brooks – 1,358 cases (one new), 14 active, 14 deaths
Lethbridge – 1,542 cases (13 new), 123 active, 10 deaths
- West Lethbridge – 557 cases (six new), 36 active, two deaths
- South Lethbridge – 514 cases (six new), 54 active, seven deaths
- North Lethbridge – 473 cases (one new), 33 active, one death
Medicine Hat – 507 cases (five new), 38 active, 11 deaths (one new)
Lethbridge County – 471 cases (five new), 35 active, seven deaths
Cardston County – 362 cases (14 new), 77 active, six deaths
M.D. of Taber – 322 cases (two new), 10 active, six deaths
County of Warner – 152 cases (one new), nine active, two deaths
County of Newell – 146 cases, seven active, two deaths
Cypress County – 144 cases, three active, zero deaths
M.D. of Pincher Creek – 135 cases (five new), 26 active, three deaths
County of Forty Mile – 116 cases, three active, two deaths
Fort Macleod – 75 cases (one new), six active, three deaths
Crowsnest Pass – 13 cases (one new), one active, zero deaths

by David Opinko

Personal services can reopen by appointment Jan. 18, some outdoor social gatherings

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