Alberta Has Now Dropped Almost All COVID-19 Restrictions & Here Are The New Changes
Alberta dropped "almost all" COVID-19 restrictions in the province starting on March 1.
On Saturday, February 26, Premier Jason Kenney said it was safe to move to step two of the province's path "back to normal" and remove the "vast majority" of the remaining public health measures in Alberta.
"We can say with confidence that the numbers [of cases] continue to decline rapidly, despite those important measures we took three weeks ago to open up," said Kenney.
On March 1 Alberta will move forward in dropping almost all remaining public health restrictions.\n\nWith declining pressure on hospitals, high levels of vaccination, new treatments, & our plan to increase health care capacity, now is the time to move forward.pic.twitter.com/Qios5lcC3O— Jason Kenney \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Jason Kenney \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1646002548
Alberta began its reopening plan on February 9, with the province's proof-of-vaccination system one of the first measures to end.
Restrictions ending in the province on March 1 include the requirement for people to wear masks indoors.
However, masks would still be necessary for "high-risk settings," such as public transit, at Alberta Health Services facilities and all continuing care settings including nursing homes, Kenney explained.
Limits on social gatherings, capacity limits for venues, and restrictions on interactive activities will be scrapped, as will mandatory work-from-home requirements for businesses.
Liquor service and operating hours at bars and restaurants will also return to normal.
In a tweet, Kenney said, "The only remaining measures will be to isolate if you're sick, plus common sense measures like masking in hospitals, nursing homes and mass transit. Those will be lifted at Phase 3 if hospitalizations continue to fall."
While the provincial mask mandate is mostly being lifted, some Alberta cities also have instated mask-wearing bylaws at the municipal level. The City of Calgary mask bylaw, for example, is also set to end on March 1.
Susan Henry, chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said she was "cautiously optimistic" about entering a new stage of the pandemic.
However, the City of Edmonton said on Twitter that its mask bylaw will stay in place "until further action is taken."
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
