"Respect these health rules": Kenney urges caution ahead of Thanksgiving

Oct 5 2021, 10:20 pm

Premier Jason Kenney is reminding Albertans about the public health measures in place, as many prepare for the Thanksgiving long weekend.

Kenney made the remarks Tuesday afternoon during a COVID-19 update.

“Indoor gatherings last Thanksgiving sparked the second of wave of COVID”, said Kenney.

“We simply can not afford a repeat scenario. We have made progress, but we risk losing all that progress if Albertans do not respect these critical public health rules over the days to come.”

Kenney reiterated the current public health measures, including a reduction of outdoor private social gatherings, going from 200 people to 20 people.

The measures surrounding gathering restrictions are:

Indoor social gatherings

  • Vaccinated: Indoor private social gatherings are limited to 2 households (yours plus one other) up to a maximum of 10 vaccine-eligible, vaccinated people and no restrictions on children under 12.
  • Unvaccinated: Indoor social gatherings are not permitted for vaccine-eligible people who are unvaccinated.
  • This restriction does not apply to mutual support groups, or to workers who need to access your home to provide caregiving support or home repairs and maintenance.

Outdoor social gatherings

  • Outdoor private social gatherings limited to a maximum of 20 people, with two metre physical distancing between households at all times.

“The fewer the people the better,” said Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw. “I know this will be disappointing to many.”

“Don’t have any indoor gatherings, unless you are 100% sure everyone is fully vaccinated.”

On Tuesday Alberta reported 663 new COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths.

Nearly 1,100 Albertans are in hospital with the viruses, including more than 250 in the ICU.

Laine MitchellLaine Mitchell

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