Alberta Just Revealed Its Reopening Plan & Here's What You Need To Know

On Wednesday, May 26, Jason Kenney addressed the public to announce Alberta's reopening plan. During the announcement, Kenney explained that the province will reopen in three stages called the "Open for Summer Plan," which is based on vaccination rates and hospitalization numbers.

Stage 1 will start after 50% of eligible Albertans have received at least one vaccine dose and hospitalization numbers are below 800 and declining. Alberta has currently hit these metrics.

Stage 1: May 28 & June 1

Starting on Friday, May 28, stage one will see places of worship open with a capacity limit of 15%. On June 1, the rest of Stage 1 will kick in. This means larger outdoor gatherings with up to 10 people, personal and wellness services can open by appointment, restaurant patios can reopen, outdoor sports and recreation can resume for up to 10 people and retail can return to a 15% fire code occupancy.

Stage 2: Mid-June

Stage 2 will begin a couple of weeks after Stage 1, says Kenney. For this stage, there must be fewer than 500 COVIID-19 patients in the hospital and at least 60% of eligible Albertans must have their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

This stage will see libraries and movie theatres reopening, indoor fitness resuming and outdoor gatherings of up to 20 people. Places of worship and retail will get higher capacity limits of one-third of occupancy. Further, restaurants will be able to invite people back to dine indoors and outdoors in groups of up to six. Also, the work from home order will be lifting and sports, performance and recreation activities will resume with some restrictions.

Stage 3: Early July

Stage 3 will begin when 70% of Albertans have one vaccine dose. We will wait two weeks after hitting this trigger.

"At this stage, most public health restrictions including the ban on indoor social gatherings will be history," said Kenney. "Almost all health restrictions will be gone." He said that exceptions to this rule will be quarantine measures for those with COVID-19 and some measures to protect those in continuing care homes. "We are optimistic that we'll enter Stage 3 by early July."

At this time, visitors will be welcomed back, too, said Kenney. He reminded Albertans that all of this is contingent on vaccinations and that these dates are estimates.