Alberta is opening up COVID-19 vaccination appointment bookings for everyone eligible in Phase 2A of the rollout starting Friday at 8 a.m.
That means anyone born in 1956 or earlier, or First Nations, Métis and Inuit people born in 1971 or earlier, can book a vaccine appointment.
Staff and residents of licensed seniors supportive living facilities that were not included in Phase 1 can also book appointments.
The province’s chief medical officer of health said the booking system would be down from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. to prepare.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw reminded Albertans Thursday that once they reach eligibility, they never lose it and can book vaccination at any time through their pharmacy, by calling Health Link 811 or online with Alberta Health Services.
As of Thursday, 418,000 doses of vaccine had been administered, Hinshaw said.
Daily COVID-19 numbers
Alberta Health identified 505 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and completed 10,900 tests. Alberta’s positivity rate sat at about 4.8 per cent.
Ninety-one cases of COVID-19 variants of concern were identified. Twelve per cent of Alberta’s total active COVID-19 cases involve variants of concern.
As of Thursday, 264 Albertans were in hospital, including 43 in intensive care.
One additional death due to COVID-19 was reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours.
A man in his 60s from the South zone passed away. The case included comorbidities, health officials said.
“We continue to see fatalities declining, which is positive, but every life lost is devastating for those who loved them,” Hinshaw said.
Lethbridge-area spike
One area of Alberta that’s seen growing rates of transmission in recent weeks is Lethbridge and the surrounding area, Hinshaw said.
“Three weeks ago, on Feb. 25, Lethbridge had 196 active cases. Yesterday, the community reached 469 active cases.
“Simply put, cases are rising sharply and we must curb the current rate of infection.
“While there is no single cause of the spike, local health officials have let me know that many of these cases are linked to family gatherings and visitation between households, people with mild symptoms who do not stay home or get tested right away, or faith gatherings where masking and distancing is not happening,” she said.
“I know we all miss seeing friends and family in person, but these gatherings allow the virus to spread from one to many in a matter of days.”
Hinshaw said most people in that region are doing their best, but this demonstrates how the actions of a few can affect many.
“I don’t ask Albertans to fear COVID-19; I ask us all to respect it.”
Step 3 and indoor gatherings
Both Hinshaw and Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday that decisions about whether Alberta will move into Step 3 of its Path Forward plan have not yet been made.
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However, Kenney was focused on hospitalization numbers, pointing out Alberta has remained under the Step 3 threshold of less than 300 for some time.
Hinshaw said one thing the COVID-19 cabinet committee and health officials are considering is how much the absence of in-person social interaction has impacted Albertans.
“As we have always done, we’re looking at the impacts of COVID-19 and the impacts of restrictions,” she said.
Currently, under Step 2, indoor gatherings with anyone outside of each Albertan’s own households are prohibited.
“If people are choosing to interact with others outside their household right now, that is against the rules and it is putting others at risk,” Hinshaw said.
“However, if we go forward with a slight easing of those rules, it may help those who previously were having large gatherings perhaps to reconsider and scale those back.
“It’s about trying to do our best as we’re considering what framework to put in place to meet Albertans with the path that we’re most likely to collectively be successful at.”
Whatever the gathering rules under Step 3 are at any one time, the province’s top doctor is still asking Albertans to think twice before meeting someone outside their household.
Still, Hinshaw acknowledges people are very tired and craving social interaction. That will be considered when officials look at potential Step 3 rules.
“Just because something is down on paper doesn’t mean that’s exactly what Albertans are doing,” she explained.
“If there was a framework that minimized the number of people or minimized the risk… whether that would actually be better than the current state because in some ways, perhaps the current state is causing to people to feel that they just can’t follow the rules anymore, that the pressure of isolation is becoming too much.”
Hinshaw reiterated no final decisions have been made.
“People need to make decisions in complex environments. And we’re trying to set the rules in a way that helps most people be able to follow them most of the time to reduce our overall risk of transmission.”
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Rise in variant cases
On Thursday, Alberta recorded a new daily high of 91 new active COVID-19 cases involving variants of concern.
When asked about a possible third wave, Hinshaw said the “coming weeks” will tell. However, she said Alberta is currently seeing some “concerning trends.”
“What we’re seeing is an overall increase in cases and slight overall increases week to week in the proportion of all of our cases that are caused by variants of concern.”
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