Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Hinshaw talks “more cautious” approach to lifting COVID restrictions

Feb 3, 2021 | 4:27 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Albertans are set to see some COVID-19 restrictions eased next week.

It won’t, however, look like what we saw last spring and summer.

Back in May and June, the province entered the first two stages of the Relaunch Plan with each bringing widespread change from when public health measures were first introduced.

READ MORE: Stage 1 of Alberta relaunch confirmed for Thursday, will be slower in Brooks & Calgary

READ MORE: Stage 2 of Alberta’s relaunch now underway

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February 8, 2021, will mark the start of what Premier Jason Kenney called a “gradual, stepped-approach.”

This will see restaurants reopen to limited in-person dining, gyms allowing one-on-one sessions with personal trainers, and some forms of children’s activities being permitted.

READ MORE: Gyms, restaurants, children’s activities allowed Feb. 8

During Wednesday’s COVID-19 press conference, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw elaborated on why the relaxation of restrictions is being conducted differently this time around.

While COVID cases and hospitalizations have been falling in recent weeks, she gave some context to the numbers.

“Currently, there are 539 people in hospital. This is down from the high of 938 on December 30. This is a very encouraging trend and pressure is easing on the health system we all rely on. At the same time, the numbers remain far higher than they were in the spring.”

“When we started our first relaunch on May 14, there were 57 people in hospital – a tenth of the total we have today.”

“We now have 6,599 active cases. This is less than one-third of our peak of 21,231 active cases on December 13… When we relaunched in the spring, there were less than 1,000 active cases in the community, meaning that there are almost seven times the active cases today that there were at that time.”

Dr. Hinshaw says the emergence of new COVID-19 variant cases in the province poses a significant risk to Albertans. LNN reported Tuesday that there had been 57 confirmed cases between the U.K. and South African variants.

That is why the government is not completely lifting restrictions on a large number of industries all at once and why those like physical fitness and eating establishments are being handled more slowly.

“This approach should limit the need to jump back and forth between easing and tightening of restrictions, which I know is challenging for everyone, especially those whose businesses and paycheques are affected.”

Dr. Hinshaw acknowledges that there will never be one “right way” to navigate the pandemic nor one that will make everyone happy, but she claims that the province will continue to do what it can to return society to a near-normal state when appropriate.

A full list of current COVID-19 restrictions in Alberta and details on the stepped-approach to relaxing them can be found here.