One Edmonton doctor feels cautiously moving into Step 2 of Alberta’s four-part COVID-19 reopening plan was a safe move, but says the province needs to take a closer look at activities in places like restaurants and pubs.
Dr. Noel Gibney is the co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association’s Strategic COVID-19 Pandemic Committee. He appeared on 630 CHED Mornings with Chelsea Bird and Shaye Ganam on Tuesday to discuss the government’s decision to ease some restrictions the day before.
“I think this was a very reasonable, as you say, incremental change. I think it’s safe.”
Gibney said the government was under extreme pressure to show some movement forward in the province’s reopening plan and the distinction between high-intensity and low-intensity exercise was a good one to make.
He pointed to an incident in Hawaii where a spin instruction had COVID-19 but wasn’t symptomatic yet. All 10 people in the class got COVID-19.
Before the province moves further into Step 2 though, Gibney thinks the province needs to look at the restrictions around dining in at restaurants and pubs, saying there’s “no question” that not only variant cases are increasing, but cases are also creeping up with the original form of the virus.
“We’re not saying that you have to close them down, but there are there are regulations and regulations really do need to be enforced because these can become super-spreader events and can come back to bite us pretty badly.”
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