Dr. Deena Hinshaw at the news conference on Thursday, February 10 2022. (Government of Alberta)

By Cathy Gibson

Province makes additional COVID-19 announcements

Feb 11, 2022 | 11:52 AM

Lethbridge, AB – The province made several COVID-19 related announcements during a news conference Thursday, February 10, 2022.

Removal of health worker single-site requirement

Effective February 16th, fully vaccinated health care workers at long term care facilities will be able to work at multiple health care sites again.

Health care workers have been limited to working at only one long term care facility to help reduce COVID transmission between locations. The single-site staffing requirement began in April 2020.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said removing this requirement will help sites that may be dealing with staff shortages.

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“Fortunately, vaccines have been extremely helpful in reducing the risk of severe outcomes, and we can now remove this restriction on fully vaccinated workers to mitigate the risk of sites not having enough workers to care for patients.”

COVID-19 Rapid test kit changes

The province also outlined some changes to the way it distributes COVID-19 rapid test kits.

Health Minister Jason Copping said AHS sites will no longer distribute the kits, and more pharmacies will have the kits available starting next week.

“We’re switching to distributing tests only through pharmacies. AHS sites will no longer receive new shipments. That said, tests were sent out to AHS locations last week, so some AHS sites may still have tests available.”

The province has added 633 more pharmacies to its distribution list, so starting next week, more than 1400 pharmacies across the province will distribute rapid test kits.

Booster COVID-19 vaccines for adolescents

During Thursday’s news conference, Dr. Hinshaw also announced that adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 with underlying health conditions, as well as immunocompromised children from ages 5 to 11, will be eligible for a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine starting February 15.

For a full list of those who are eligible for a third dose, please see the Alberta Health Services vaccine website.

Read how Alberta is defending its decision to ease COVID-19 protocols.

Thursday’s news conference can be viewed below.