Alberta reinstates mask mandate and liquor curfew, implements financial incentive for unvaccinated amid surge in COVID-19 cases
Starting Saturday, masks will be required in indoor spaces and licensed establishments will need to end liquor sales at 10 p.m.
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Alberta is mandating masks in indoor public spaces, setting a curfew on liquor sales and offering $100 to unvaccinated people who get the COVID-19 vaccine, all in an effort to stem a fourth-wave surge.
Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services CEO Dr. Verna Yiu announced the measures Friday, saying the spread of the virus, particularly among unvaccinated Albertans, is putting pressure on the health-care system.
Intensive care unit capacity is currently at 95 per cent provincewide and 97 per cent in Edmonton.
“It is clear that we are at risk of exceeding our province’s ICU capacity if we do not make changes to our approach now,” Hinshaw said.
Starting Saturday at 8 a.m., masks will be mandatory in all indoor public spaces and workplaces, however schools will continue to follow rules set by boards.
Also starting Saturday, restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, nightclubs and other licensed establishments will be required to end alcohol service at 10 p.m.
The officials said the measures would be temporary but did not give a date for when they expect to lift them.
A one-time incentive of a $100 gift card will be available for all Albertans age 18 or older who receive a first or second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine between Sept. 3 and Oct. 14.
When asked about the message the incentive sends to those who are already fully immunized, Kenney said the government was leaving “no stone left unturned.”
“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgements — this is a time to get people vaccinated. We have done everything we can,” Kenney claimed, pointing to previous vaccination efforts.
“If you just haven’t gotten around to it, for the love of God please get vaccinated now — and if you do, we will pay you $100.”
The premier estimated the gift cards would cost $20 million.
Kenney defended his government’s decision to implement less aggressive restrictions than during previous waves by saying the province was dealing with a smaller population of unvaccinated people.
But he acknowledged that Alberta’s vaccination rates are about five percentage points below the Canadian average.
“That is why we’re getting hit harder. If the choice is between a sustained crisis in our hospitals or, God forbid, widespread restrictions, which I want to avoid at all costs, or finding some way to get the attention of those vaccine latecomers, we’re going to choose the latter,” said Kenney.
Just over seventy per cent of Albertans 12 and older have received both of their doses of vaccine, and 78.3 per cent have received at least one dose.
Officials are also recommending that unvaccinated Albertans limit indoor social gatherings to close contacts of only two cohort families, up to a maximum of 10 people.
Modelling released
Friday was the first time Kenney, Hinshaw and Shandro addressed the media in weeks, during which COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the province have skyrocketed. Alberta now leads the country in per capita cases.
On Aug. 9, when Kenney had last appeared, the province reported 244 new cases, 129 hospitalizations and 26 patients in the ICU.
On Friday, Alberta reported 1,401 new cases, its highest daily count since May 13, 515 hospitalizations and 118 in intensive care.
Modelling released Friday shows Alberta could meet or exceed ICU peaks seen during previous waves. As a result, AHS is cancelling non-essential surgeries across all five medical zones in the province. Up to 50 per cent of procedures in Edmonton will be affected.
Routine COVID-19 testing and mandatory isolation requirements were supposed to end Sept. 27, but it is unclear if that is still the plan.
Support for vaccine passports
Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba have rolled out or announced vaccine passports, which require proof of immunization in order to access non-essential businesses — a move Kenney has vehemently rejected.
Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the Premier’s decision to implement restrictions instead of passports will slow the province’s economic recovery.
“The premier says he is leaving no stone unturned. That is a lie,” said Notley at an afternoon press conference.
Dr. Noel Gibney, co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association’s pandemic committee, doesn’t think the measures are enough and was disappointed they didn’t include a vaccine passport program.
“They’ve been begging people to get vaccinated for months. That isn’t working. … If you can’t get people to do it by request, then you have to make it difficult for them if they don’t do it,” he said.
Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jeffrey Sundquist said businesses are now paying the price for those who’ve chosen to remain unvaccinated.
“Restricting what they can sell at certain times of the day has an impact on their bottom line,” he said.
Katy Ingraham, spokeswoman for the Canadian Restaurant Workers Coalition, said the curfew will also be devastating for workers who will see their hours cut.
“They’re having the rug ripped out from under them in terms of income they could have anticipated this weekend,” said Ingraham.
“This is just a huge slap in the face to many overworked hospitality workers who are doing their best in an increasingly dangerous environment.”
Ingraham said she is seeking a government exemption to the curfew for her restaurant Fleisch Delikatessen, because it already requires proof of vaccination from patrons to dine indoors.
Without vaccine passports, Gibney foresees more restrictions like reducing capacity limits in stores or ending indoor dining.
“Because they haven’t dealt with this properly, it is the inevitable thing that will happen,” he said.
Seventy-seven per cent of Albertans who responded to a Leger poll released this week said they either somewhat or strongly supported vaccine passports, although 20 per cent of strongly opposed them — the highest rate among provinces.
City reviewing office plan
Meanwhile, the government is asking employers to pause return-to-office plans.
All City of Edmonton employees were to go back as of Sept. 20, a plan acting city manager Stephanie McCabe said will now be reviewed.
Edmonton’s mask bylaw was reinstated Friday morning after being deactivated since July 1. The province’s mandate will take precedence over the city’s, but peace officers will still be able to enforce and issue $100 fines for violations.
— With files from Dustin Cook
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