Alberta re-declares State of Public Health Emergency, new restrictions announced

Nearly every community in the South Health Zone is part of the “Enhanced (purple) Areas” with the exceptions of the M.D. of Pincher Creek, Crowsnest Pass, and the M.D. of Ranchland.

The province has created a few different categories for business operations, effective Friday, November 27. They are as follows:

Businesses that are closed for in-person service include:

Banquet halls, conference centres, trade shows, auditoria and concert venues, non-approved/licensed markets, community centres
Children’s play places or indoor playgrounds
All levels of sport (professional, semi-professional, junior, collegiate/universities and amateur). Exemptions may be considered.

Restaurants, bars, pubs and lounges will be open with restrictions if they follow all public health guidance in place including:

Maximum of 6 people from the same immediate household at a table and no movement between tables.
- People who live alone can meet with up to 2 non-household contacts as long as they’re the same two throughout the duration of these restrictions
Only seated eating and drinking is permitted. No other services or entertainment will be allowed, including billiards, games or darts.
Liquor can be sold until 10 pm and food-serving establishments must close to in person-dining at 11 pm. Liquor sales apply to casinos, but casinos are not required to close at 11 pm.

Most retail businesses may remain open with capacity limited to 25% of the occupancy set under the Alberta Fire Code.

Retail, including liquor and cannabis
Grocery stores
Pharmacies
Clothing stores
Computer and technology stores
Hardware
Automotive
Farmers markets approved by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
Unlicensed outdoor seasonal markets

Some entertainment and event services may remain open with capacity limited to 25% of the occupancy set under the Alberta Fire Code.

Movie theatres
Museums and galleries
Libraries
Casinos, offering slots only. Table games must be closed at this time.
Indoor entertainment centres including amusement parks, water parks, bingo halls and racing centres.
Indoor fitness, recreation, sports and physical activity centres, including dance and yoga studios, martial arts, gymnastics and private or public swimming pools.
- Facilities can be open for individual studio time, training or exercise only.
- There can be no group fitness, group classes, group training, team practices or games.
- Instructors can use facility to broadcast virtual fitness classes from, but there can be no group class.

Businesses open by appointment only are not permitted to offer walk-in services. Appointments should be limited to one-on-one services.

Personal services such as hair salons and barbershops, esthetics, manicure, pedicure, body waxing and make-up, piercing and tattoo services,
Wellness services including acupuncture, massage and reflexology
Professional services such as lawyers, mediators, accountants and photographers
Private one-on-one lessons (no private group lessons permitted)
Hotels, motels, hunting and fishing lodges

Peace officers across the province will issue $1,000 tickets to those in violation.

These measures will be in effect for the next three weeks and will be re-evaluated in mid-December.

This week, all Albertans can expect to receive a text notification outlining all of these new measures.

A full list of measures can be found on the Government of Alberta website here.

For Tuesday’s COVID-19 update, 1,115 cases were confirmed in Alberta.

by David Opinko

Alberta re-declares State of Public Health Emergency, new restrictions announced

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