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The COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The province of
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
has the third-most cases of COVID-19 in Canada, behind only Ontario and Quebec.
Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of ...
, the Premier of Alberta, working closely with the Emergency Management Cabinet Committee, followed the recommendations of Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, in response to the "rapidly evolving global threat". A state of public health emergency was declared on March 17. Alberta's public health laboratory greatly increased tests for COVID-19, reaching 1,000 a day by March 8, and 3,000 a day by March 26. Hinshaw said that by March 20, "World-wide, Alberta has been conducting among the highest number of tests per capita." As of March 18, 2022, 6,905,190 tests have been conducted in Alberta. On June 12, the entire province of Alberta moved to Stage 2 of the government's economic relaunch plan. The peak of the first wave was reached on April 30, 2020, when the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the province reached 3,022. By October 19, 2020, during the second wave, the number of active cases reached 3,138. This began a series of new record high case numbers in Alberta, peaking on December 14, 2020, at 20,500 active cases. An attempt to lift restrictions after cases subsided in early-2021 was interrupted in March by a ''third wave'', fuelled by variants of concern. This led to a rollback of the reopening process until the first vaccine dose was sufficiently distributed among residents. On July 1, Alberta lifted almost all remaining public health orders. In late-July 2021, amid evidence of a ''fourth wave'' in Alberta, the province faced criticism for plans to treat COVID-19 as an endemic illness by scaling back testing, contact tracing, and self-isolation requirements. Due to the ''fourth wave'', the province began to reintroduce restrictions on September 4, including mandatory masks inside public indoor spaces. On September 15, 2021, Premier Kenney redeclared a public health emergency, announced the reinstatement of restrictions on businesses and gatherings, and announced a vaccine mandate for businesses, entities, and events that require exemptions to the public health orders.


Timeline


Government response


Mitigation measures


Initial response

On March 12, 2020, the province restricted all gatherings to a maximum of 250 people, recommended against international travel, and recommended that anyone returning from international travel
self-isolate In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers ...
for 14 days on return. The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench postponed all jury trials scheduled to begin after March 13. Jury trials which were already in process, would continue. Premier Kenney declared a public health emergency on March 17. The next day, he announced a series of provincial financial measures, including deferral of utility payments, ceasing of collection of corporate income taxes, a "six-month moratorium on student loans", and an emergency isolation support package. On March 28, after having restricted them to 50 people, the province further limited gatherings to 15 people, suspended vehicle access to provincial parks, and ordered the closure of all "close-contact" health and personal care services, dine-in restaurants, and "non-essential" retail stores. Premier Kenney also announced protection for renters. On April 23, Hinshaw announced that the restriction on gatherings of more than 15 people would persist through the summer. Hinshaw stated that although cases were trending downward, COVID-19 "spreads rapidly through social interactions", it would be "with us for many months to come", and that they did not want to risk any further
super-spreader A superspreading event (SSEV) is an event in which an infectious disease is spread much more than usual, while an unusually contagious organism infected with a disease is known as a superspreader. In the context of a human-borne illness, a super ...
events. The Calgary Stampede,
K-Days K-Days, formerly known as the Edmonton Exhibition, Klondike Days, and the Capital Ex, is an annual 10-day exhibition held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada mostly in late July. In recent years it has attracted between 700,000 and 800,000 visitors per ...
, and a number of other provincial events were therefore cancelled, with the Stampede cancelled for the first time in nearly a century. On April 30, the Alberta government announced a plan to lift restrictions in several phases. Some medical services and outdoor recreational activities reopen in early May, while daycare centres, restaurants and some retail outlets would reopen at reduced capacity on May 14. The timing of the next phase would depend on whether or not the first phase results in an increase in virus cases.


Second wave

Restrictions began to re-emerge in November 2020; on November 12, it was announced that for 14 days, bars would be required to end liquor sales by 10 p.m. and close by 11 p.m. within regions that were given an "enhanced status" classification by the AHS, and that all group fitness, group performance, and indoor team sports activity would be prohibited in the regions of Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, and Red Deer. On November 24, Kenney announced that all indoor "social gatherings" would be prohibited, residents may only be in close contact with members of their immediate household (or up to two people if living alone), and outdoor gatherings, weddings, and funerals would be limited to no more than 10 people. Students from grade 7 through 12 would shift to online classes from November 30 to January 11, 2021. In addition, event venues and indoor play spaces in enhanced status areas would be ordered closed, restaurants would be limited to tables of six with no entertainment allowed, casinos would be prohibited from operating table games, and retail businesses were capped at a maximum of 25% of their licensed capacity. Kenney also encouraged businesses to allow remote work. It was stated that the measures would be evaluated, and that by December 15, the province desired the rate of new transmissions to fall to 1%. On December 8, Premier Kenney announced a new series of health orders. All social gatherings were prohibited, and face masks must be worn province-wide in any indoor public space. Effective December 13, all in-person restaurants, bars, casinos and gaming facilities, indoor entertainment and recreation facilities, fitness centres, personal care facilities, art galleries, libraries, museums, and arenas were ordered closed. Remote work was required by all employees unless their physical presence was considered necessary for their respective job, and all retail businesses and religious gatherings were limited to 15% of the venue's licensed capacity. These measures would remain in effect for at least four weeks. Kenney stated that he did not want to order the closure of all retail businesses, considering such a measure to have been disproportionately advantageous to "big U.S.-owned
big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...
s" and detrimental to smaller, Alberta-owned businesses. On December 22, Premier Kenney announced a one-time exemption to the province's gathering restrictions for the holiday season, allowing people who live alone to visit another household once between December 23 and 28. On January 7, 2021, Premier Kenney announced that the existing measures would be extended for at least two more weeks. On January 18, the province began to allow outdoor public gatherings of up to 20 people, and personal care services to reopen for one-on-one appointments. On January 21, the remaining restrictions were extended for an indefinite period, with Hinshaw stating that Alberta needed to "give it a bit more time" and focus on "how we all collectively work together to keep those numbers coming down."


"The Path Forward"

On January 29, 2021, Premier Kenney announced that restrictions would begin to be eased on February 8 via a framework known as "The Path Forward"; it defines key metrics which would allow restrictions to be eased incrementally, over several steps. Among these benchmark metrics were upper limits on hospitalized COVID cases, and a minimum wait period of three weeks between each step, in order to assess impact and ensure that the healthcare system would not be overwhelmed. On March 1, Premier Kenney announced that Alberta would begin to phase in "Step 2", allowing for low-intensity group fitness classes to resume. The remainder of Phase 2 was implemented March 8, which included the ability for libraries to reopen (limited to 15% capacity), retail to operate at 25% capacity, banquet and conference halls to open for allowed activities, and collegiate sports programs allowed to conduct practices with 10 participants per-group, with three metres of social distancing between them and masks mandatory (games are prohibited). On March 22, due to a major surge of cases brought upon by variants of concern, Health Minister
Tyler Shandro Tyler Shandro (born ) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of justice and solicitor general of Alberta since February 25, 2022. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), Shandro was elected to represent Calgary-Acadia ...
stated that the province had no plans to move to "Step 3" at that time, explaining that "moving to Step 3 can be considered only when hospitalizations for COVID patients are under 300 and declining. Hospitalizations must be on a clear downward trajectory if we are to enter any new step, just like they were when we entered Step 1 and Step 2 earlier this year."


Return to Step 1

On April 6, Premier Kenney announced that Alberta would be rolled back to Step 1 effective 11:59 p.m. MT until further notice; in addition, beginning April 9 restaurants were prohibited from offering indoor dining, but could still offer outdoor dining. On April 29, Premier Kenney announced a series of "targeted health measures" applying in regions with at least 250 active cases and more than 350 active cases per-100,000; schools must close to in-person classes, indoor gyms must close, and all indoor sports activity must be suspended. These orders would apply for two weeks, even if incidence rates fall below the threshold during the period. Kenney indicated that curfews may be implemented at the request of local officials or if active cases exceed 1,000 per-100,000.


Third wave

On May 4, Premier Kenney announced new restrictions; province-wide, all schools and post-secondary institutions were moved to online classes from May 7 to at least May 25, all in-person dining at restaurants was prohibited beginning May 10, and all indoor recreation activities were prohibited. In regions with at least 50 active cases per-100,000, gatherings were further limited to 5 people, personal care services were ordered closed, retail stores were limited to 10% capacity, outdoor recreation with individuals from outside of the immediate household was prohibited, and any non-critical business that is the subject of a COVID-19 outbreak will be ordered closed for 10 days. Hinshaw later stated that the move to close schools was an "operational decision" due to community transmission impacting staffing.


"Open for Summer Plan"

Alberta's "Open for Summer Plan", which was announced on May 25 with some measures implemented on June 1 and all public health restrictions lifted by July 1, was directly responsible for a September spike in preventable COVID-19 cases, according to Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta chief medical officer of health. Hinshaw accepted responsibility for the "narrative" in July that the pandemic was over. By October, the Open for Summer plan was described as a "failure" and a "cautionary tale" for other Canadian provinces as the number of delta cases climbed. Even with the number of cases increasing, Kenney had refused to impose vaccine passports. Mask mandates were lifted. Plans were in place to "abandon test, trace and isolate protocols." As the number of cases and hospitalizations steadily climbed throughout the summer, Hinshaw and Kenny failed to reimpose public health measures. Kenney's poorly thought out policy decisions, his slow response to increasing cases and hospitalizations, combined with Albertans comparatively low vaccination rates became a "recipe for disaster". Ontario with a much larger population but with restrictions in place, fared much better. School students returned to in-person classes on May 25 following the Victoria Day holiday. On May 26, Premier Kenney announced the replacement of "The Path Forward" with the "Open for Summer Plan", a new framework that would be based on vaccination progress and hospitalization metrics. On June 18, 2021, at a media event in Edmonton, Premier Kenney announced per the Plan that Step 3 would be implemented on July 1, as the province had met the 70% threshold of first doses. On July 28, Alberta announced major changes to its handling of COVID-19 (amended August 13) in order to place it "in line with other respiratory viruses to ensure health system capacity for the fall", which included plans to scale back asymptomatic testing, and eventually lift self-isolation requirements for those who test positive.


Fourth wave

During the fourth wave, from July 11, 2021, until November 16 there were 903 COVID-19 deaths. At its peak in mid-September, 2021 the new daily case counts were over 1,600, the number of hospitalizations was over 1,130, and the total number of active cases exceeded 20,000 for the first time since the pandemic began. By September 20, the number of active cases was much more than twice as many as any other province or territory. For the month of August, while Kenney was on vacation overseas, the mask mandate had not been re-instated and no changes were made to the restrictions guidelines. When he returned to Alberta in early September, ICUs had 10 times more COVID patients compared to early August. According to ''Maclean's'' magazine, patients were double-bunked in hospitals and overflow rooms were being used. Hospital staff had to be brought in through the military and the Red Cross. Thousands of surgeries had to be cancelled including those for cancer patients and children. Daily COVID fatalities reached heights not seen since last winter, when unvaccinated residents of seniors homes died from the virus. For the month of August, while Premier Kenney was on vacation overseas, no changes were made to the restrictions guidelines. On September 4, 2021, masks once again became mandatory within public indoor spaces province-wide. Licensed establishments are also prohibited from serving alcohol after 10:00 p.m. nightly, and consumption must end after 11:00 p.m. On September 15, 2021, Premier Kenney reinstated the public health emergency and announced new restrictions that took effect beginning September 16 and September 20; * Effective September 16 ** All employees must remote work unless their physical presence is necessary for their position. ** Outdoor private social gatherings are capped at 200 people with social distancing. ** Private indoor gatherings are capped at 10 fully-vaccinated people 12 and older from a maximum of two households. No limit on number of household members younger than 12. ** Unvaccinated individuals who are eligible for vaccination may not attend indoor social gatherings unless they are vaccinated. ** Outdoor events are subject to social distancing. ** Places of worship may operate at one-third capacity with social distancing. ** Masks are mandatory at schools (for students grade 4 and up, and for all staff and faculty) and places of worship. * Effective September 20 ** Restaurants and food courts may not offer indoor dining. Outdoor dining is limited to a maximum of six people per-table. Subject to alcohol curfew. ** All retail, entertainment, and recreation facilities must operate at one-third capacity. Groups must be limited to immediate households or up to two designated close contacts for those who live alone. ** Indoor weddings and funerals are capped at 50 guests or 50% capacity. Indoor receptions are prohibited. Subject to alcohol curfew. ** Indoor group fitness, recreation, or sports activities for adults are prohibited. ** Restrictions Exemption Program: eligible operations and discretionary events are exempted from public health orders if all patrons over the age of 12 are required to present
proof of vaccination A vaccine passport or proof of vaccination is an immunity passport employed as a credential in countries and jurisdictions as part of efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic via vaccination. A vaccine passport is typically issued by a govern ...
for COVID-19, proof that they have tested negative on a privately paid COVID-19 test within the past 72 hours, or documentation issued by a physician or nurse practitioner of a valid medical reason for not being vaccinated. *** Eligible operations include indoor entertainment, event, and recreation facilities, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and adult sport, fitness and performance activities. *** Initially, patrons must present proof of at least one dose. As of October 25, patrons must be fully-vaccinated. *** Vaccination requirements do not apply to individuals (such as employees) who are on-site for work-related purposes. *** Any operations "that need to be accessed by the public for daily living", or otherwise considered "out-of-scope operators" are ineligible to participate in Restrictions Exemption Program. They include: **** Retail outlets **** First Nations colleges **** Health, personal, and wellness services **** Hotels and accommodations **** K-12 schools and curriculum-based activities **** Libraries **** Places of worship **** Private gatherings **** Publicly funded post secondary institutions (which are subject to separate guidelines) On September 22, 2021, the city of Calgary passed a by-law mandating participation in Restrictions Exemption Program by all facilities and events that are eligible to do so.


Fifth wave

From November 17 until March 5, there were 767 deaths by COVID. At its peak on January 13, there were 62,733 active cases in Alberta which represented the highest number reached during the pandemic. On December 10, 2021, Kenney left open the possibility that restrictions on gatherings may be eased for the holiday season. However, due to concerns surrounding
Omicron variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
, Kenney announced on December 21 mandatory masks at all times, and new restrictions affecting bars and restaurants and large venues of over 1,000, such as limiting the latter to 500 clients and the former to ten people per table and a slightly earlier last call for alcohol and closing time. In early January 2022, with the Omicron-driven fifth wave rising and healthcare capacity already "spread too thin" federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, suggested mandatory vaccination as an option that provinces and the territories might consider. Kenney responded almost immediately that Alberta would not introduced a mandate. By January 10, there were 635 hospitalizations with COVID and 72 people in the ICU. Because of the highly virulent nature of the Omicron variant, by January 10, 2022, the CMOH announced that AHS had reached its capacity for PCR testing and was immediately limiting PCR testing to those with a high risk of severe outcomes. While the official number of active reported cases was 57,332, the actual number was much higher because the positivity rate of 38% was so high and PCR testing was rationed. On January 13, Kenney announced that the thousand of rapid tests that the Education Minister Adriana LaGrange has promised to schaols along with medical-grade masks, were delayed.


End of public health measures

On February 8, 2022, Kenney announced that the province would begin to ease its Omicron-related restrictions, stating that "We cannot remain at a heightened state of emergency forever. We have to begin to heal, and so Alberta will move on. But we'll do so carefully, we'll do so prudently, we will do so only if it does not threaten the capacity of our healthcare system." These restrictions will be eased in multiple steps. * Restrictions Exemption Program was discontinued effective at midnight on February 9, 2022. The existing capacity restrictions for facilities with a fire code capacity above 500 remain in force, but attendees may consume food and drink at arenas when seated. All other existing restrictions remain in force * Mask mandates at schools and for children 12 and younger ended on February 14 * On March 1, the mask mandate, and all other capacity restrictions, gathering restrictions, and remote work requirements expired. * In the next step, any remaining provincial health orders on the self-isolation of positive cases and COVID-specific continuing care measures will be removed. The date for this further easing of measures is to be determined. On April 26, 2022, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Barbara Romaine ruled that certain details pertaining to discussions between Deena Hinshaw and the provincial Cabinet of Alberta would be made public, citing the importance of the question brought by the plaintiffs of
constitutionality Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
of specific public health orders. On May 9, 2022, the organizer of a protest outside
Calgary City Hall Calgary City Hall (often called Old City Hall or Historic City Hall), is the seat of government for Calgary City Council, located in the city's downtown core of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The historic building completed in 1911 serves as the offic ...
in December 2020 was acquitted of a charge for holding a prohibited "private social gathering", with
provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
judge Michael Dinkel ruling that it did not constitute a private gathering because members of the public were invited to attend. In October 2022,
Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta since October 11, 2022, and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 6, 2022. Smith e ...
was sworn in as premier of Alberta to replace the outgoing Jason Kenney. She established a stance against any future COVID-19 measures, and argued that "unvaccinated" people should be protected under the province's ''Human Rights Act''. She stated that they had "faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year", and that "we are not going to create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice". Smith received criticism for the remarks (including stating that unvaccinated people were "the most discriminated against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime"), arguing that they were divisive and trivialized the discrimination faced by minority groups. In response, Smith stated that she did not mean to "create any false equivalencies to the terrible historical discrimination and persecution suffered by so many minority groups over the last decades and centuries", but refused to specifically apologize.


Face masks

On May 29, 2020, the Alberta government announced partnerships with fast food chains A&W, McDonald's, and Tim Hortons to distribute complimentary non-medical face masks to
drive-thru A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United ...
customers. On August 1, 2020, Calgary and Edmonton both mandated the wearing of masks in indoor public spaces. Banff also required masks in its downtown pedestrian area. By November 20, 2020, Alberta was the only province without a provincial mask mandate. A mask mandate was announced on December 8, 2020.


Schools

Premier Kenney announced school closures on March 15. All daycares were closed. Classes were suspended for K-12 schools but schools were not closed. According to a March 20 Alberta Teachers Association notification, teachers were still required to work, either from home if the school board permits, or in their schools. Post-secondary institutions switched to online classes and all in-person classes were suspended. With schools and daycares closed, and parents needing childcare, a hundred
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherf ...
medical students offered to provide childcare to doctors and other frontline health care workers. By the evening of March 12, the University of Calgary notified students that it was suspending lectures effective the following day. Effective April 2, access to any campus facilities was closed off, except for electronic/keycard access to authorized staff and students. By March 21, the University of Alberta notified students living on campus that they had to leave their residences by March 24, with exemptions for "international students and people from out of province or in isolation." In Calgary, the
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgary's second oldest post-s ...
told students they had until March 23 to leave. In July 2020, it was announced that schools would resume in-person classes in September with enhanced safety protocols, and a $120 million increase in funding for the province's school boards to cover the cost of these measures. Premier Kenney stated that "the overwhelming evidence is that schools can be operated safely with little health risk for children and teachers and low risk of causing serious outbreaks in the communities that surround them." On September 16, 2021, due to the declaration of a public health emergency, all post-secondary institutions in Calgary and Edmonton announced that in-person classes would be suspended until September 20 and resume for fully-vaccinated students only, as mandatory social distancing is not possible, and the Restrictions Exemption Program (vaccine mandate) does not take effect until September 20.


ABTraceTogether

On May 1, the province released a digital encounter logging app, ABTraceTogether—developed by Deloitte and based on the
BlueTrace BlueTrace is an open-source application protocol that facilitates digital contact tracing of users to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially developed by the Singaporean Government, BlueTrace powers the contact tracing for the Tra ...
protocol and Singapore's TraceTogether app—which generates random IDs transmitted via
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
and logged by the app on other users' phones. If a user tests positive, their ID can be flagged by the system and other users notified, which can help to speed up initial
contact tracing In public health, contact tracing is the process of identifying persons who may have been exposed to an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further data to assess transmission. By tracing the contacts of infected individua ...
. Officials stated that the app was the first of its kind to be deployed within North America.
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
limitations prevent ABTraceTogether from running in the background on iPhone, and thus require it to be open and in the foreground in order to operate. This limitation does not impact the Android version, which is able to run in the background.
Alberta NDP The Alberta New Democratic Party (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Alberta), commonly shortened to Alberta's NDP, is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. It is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democr ...
critic for democracy and ethics Heather Sweet displayed concern for the limitation and privacy implications tied to it, arguing that "when you're keeping your device open at all times when you're using it, the question becomes, how is that data being stored if you're collected it from somebody else and how is it being used?" On July 31, 2020, the Canadian federal government launched COVID Alert, which is based on
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
and Google's Exposure Notification system. It operates in a similar manner to ABTraceTogether, using
API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s implemented at the OS level on both Android and iOS to overcome the aforementioned limitations on background operation. It also does not require the provision of personally-identifiable information to use. In August 2020, the Alberta government reported that it wanted to shift ABTraceTogether to Exposure Notification to create interoperability with COVID Alert, but alleged that the federal government was preventing them from releasing updates to the
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
version due to Apple's partnership with it. It was later announced that Alberta would adopt and migrate users to COVID Alert. By October 2020, COVID Alert had been adopted in all provinces except Alberta and British Columbia. Alberta stated that it needed to ensure all existing 247,000 ABTraceTogether accounts could be "transitioned" to COVID Alert. Mayor of Calgary
Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who was the 36th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was elected in the 2010 municipal election with 39% of the vote, and is the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city. ...
called upon the provincial government to adopt the app, citing the limitations of ABTraceTogether, and warning against the "politicization of public health"—in reference to members of the majority United Conservative Party having recently heckled COVID Alert as " Trudeau's app" during Question Period. In an October 30 interview with 630 CHED, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called upon Premier Kenney to adopt COVID Alert, and stated that Alberta residents could still download the app to receive exposure notifications from out-of-province users (although Alberta users cannot report their own COVID positives to the app unless it is adopted by Alberta Health Services). On November 6, 2020, Premier Kenney stated that Alberta would not adopt COVID Alert, stating that the province would no longer be able to operate ABTraceTogether if it did, and argued that ABTraceTogether was "from our view, simply a better and more effective public health tool". On October 7, 2021, CBC News reported, based on a freedom of information request, that only 158 users of ABTraceTogether had actually reported their positive COVID-19 test through the app to-date, resulting in notifications of around 1,500 potential contacts. It was projected that by the end of the year, Alberta would have spent $1.7 million and $2.6 million respectively on contracts with Deloitte and IBM to maintain the app.


Testing

By March 8, Alberta's public health laboratory was performing 1,000 tests a day and by March 26, they were conducting 3,000 tests a day. The total number of tests performed reached 20,165 by March 20, which represented among the "highest number of tests per capita" in the world. As of April 21, 109,015 tests had been conducted and 3,095 cases were confirmed. On March 24, following the example of other Canadian provinces, the AHS shifted priorities towards testing "groups at highest risk of local exposure". Under the new guidelines, "travellers who returned to Alberta after March 12" with mild symptoms would no longer be tested for COVID-19. Under the new testing protocol, there are four groups of people who will have priority for testing: those who "are hospitalized with respiratory illness"; "residents of continuing care and other similar facilities"; people "who returned from travelling abroad between March 8 and March 12"; and "health-care workers with respiratory symptoms." Hinshaw said, "Our new approach reflects the fact that the most important thing anyone can do if they have mild symptoms isn't to get tested – it's to stay home and self-isolate." Health Link nurses had been referring people with COVID-19 symptoms to one of a number of drive-thru assessment centres for testing.


Vaccination


Travel and entry restrictions

Under federal travel restrictions implemented March 18, 2020,
Calgary International Airport Calgary International Airport , branded as YYC Calgary International Airport, is an international airport that serves the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately northeast of downtown and covers an area of 20.82 squar ...
is one of only four Canadian airports currently accepting international flights from outside the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States. Travellers arriving at Calgary international arrival gates are met with Alberta health officials who are "reinforcing a message of mandatory" 14 days self-isolation to returning travelers. On October 22, 2020, the government of Alberta announced a pilot project with the federal government, whereby individuals returning from international travel via Calgary International Airport or the Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing may waive the federally-mandated quarantine period if they are immediately tested for COVID-19 on arrival. They must quarantine until the result comes back negative, after which they are no longer restricted, although they must receive a second test within six or seven days of arrival, complete a daily assessment survey, and not travel out of province for 14 days. By December 2020, it was reported that at least 10,000 travelers had opted into the scheme, and that the positivity rate was "quite low".


Economic impact

On March 14, the chief economist of Alberta Central, a banking facility for the province's credit unions, said that because of the pandemic and the low oil price, they expect that the provincial economy will contract by 1.5% in 2020, with 25,000 jobs lost.


Other reactions


Sports

The National Hockey League season was suspended, affecting the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. The
Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...
and
Canadian Hockey League The Canadian Hockey League (CHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey ‒ LCH) is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canada-based major junior ice hockey leagues. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey L ...
scrapped the remainder of its season on March 23. In July 2020, the NHL announced that Rogers Place in Edmonton would be one of two host arenas of the
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs The 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL). The playoffs began on August 1, 2020, and concluded on September 28, 2020, with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning their second Stanley Cup in franchise ...
beginning August 1 (alongside Toronto's Scotiabank Arena), which were played behind closed doors with all participating teams staying within a restricted bio-secure bubble encompassing the arena and nearby facilities such as hotels. Rogers Centre had been considered a front-runner prior to the announcement due to its high-quality facilities and ease of access to nearby hotels and facilities, while the league eventually focused on Canadian cities due to the spike of new cases in the United States. Alberta subsequently hosted bio-secure bubbles for several other continental and international sporting events, including: *
2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2021 WJHC'') were the 45th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. It began on December 25, 2020, and ended with the gold medal game on January 5, 2021. This marked the 16th time that ...
in Edmonton; the tournament was originally to be co-hosted by Edmonton and Red Deer. ** The two cities were to host the
2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were the 46th edition of the IIHF World Junior Championship, played from August 9–20, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from Dec ...
as compensation, but it was hampered by Omicron variant restrictions, and games being cancelled due to IIHF COVID-19 rules. The tournament was scrapped and replayed in August 2022 at Rogers Place. * All
Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes ...
national championships for the 2020–21 season were moved behind closed doors to a bio-secure bubble at
Canada Olympic Park Canada Olympic Park (COP), formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill, is a ski hill and multi-purpose training and competition facility located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, owned and operated by WinSport. It is currently used both for high performance a ...
in Calgary, branded as ''Curling's Capital''. This included the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Tim Hortons Brier, and both the World Men's and World Women's curling championships. The Grand Slam of Curling also hosted the Champions Cup and
Players' Championship The Players' Championship is one of the final events on the World Curling Tour (WCT) and is a part of the Grand Slam of Curling. From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". The even ...
in the bubble. ** The 2021 World Women's Curling Championship was rescheduled and added to the bubble after the event, originally to be hosted by Schaffhausen, Switzerland was cancelled in February. A COVID-19 outbreak occurred amongst broadcasting staff during the World Women's championship, resulting in a number of matches not being televised. * The
Professional Women's Hockey Players Association The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian ...
(PWHPA) hosted the Canadian leg of its 2021 Dream Gap Tour from May 24–30, 2021 in Calgary. * The
2021 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which was contested in Calgary, Alberta, from 20 to 31 August 2021, at WinSport Arena. It was origi ...
was postponed and moved from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Calgary. All games were played behind closed doors.
Hockey Alberta Hockey Alberta is the governing body of all ice hockey in Alberta, Canada and is affiliated with Hockey Canada. It was founded in 1907 as the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA) to be the governing body for Alberta intra-city ice hockey pla ...
cancelled the remainder of the 2020-21 minor hockey season on February 2, 2021, citing uncertainties over the requirements for Alberta's four-step reopening.


Transmission

Virus transmission can be travel-related, close contact cases or can be community-transmitted. By March 31, there were 286 cases known to have been spread through travel. Hinshaw reported in the last week in March that returning travellers were obligated to self-quarantine for 14 days. The province shifted testing priorities and was no longer testing returned travelers, so this number is not expected to rise. By the end of March there were 297 cases that had been "spread through close contact with an infected individual or object." About 72 people attended a curling bonspiel held at the Granite Curling Club in Edmonton from March 11 to 14 and by March 27 at least 24 medical professionals who participated had tested positive for COVID-19. Health officials believe that a doctor from Saskatchewan who had been to Las Vegas before attending the Edmonton event was the bonspiel's patient zero. There was a banquet at the event, and health officials suspect that serving spoons, which many people handled, were the source of spreading the virus. By March 25, 34 cases were linked to a "super spreader" event, a March 6 prayer meeting held at a private home in Calgary's Upper northwest zone, with a pastor from Singapore as the featured guest. Jason Kenney's polling numbers plummeted in the last few months of 2020


Community transmission

Community transmission refers to cases where Alberta Health Service (AHS) investigators "could not identify an obvious source of the virus." Alberta's first case of community transmission was announced on March 15, and by March 26 there were 34 cases of the virus, suspected to have been spread by community transmission. By March 31 the number of community-transmitted cases had increased to 75 which was double the number from the previous week. The number of community-transmitted cases serves as a significant indicator of the success or failure of social distancing.


Outbreaks

By March 30, 2020, there were 36 residents of the McKenzie Towne, Calgary, McKenzie Towne care home and five staff members that were "probable or confirmed cases". By March 31, Alberta Health was also tracking outbreaks in Calgary's Carewest Glenmore Park Centre and Shepherd's Care Kensington in the Edmonton Zone. Hinshaw described these outbreaks as "worrisome". On April 15, 2020, multiple cases tied to the
Kearl Oil Sands Project The Kearl Oil Sands Project is an oil sands mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands region at the Kearl Lake area, about north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. The project is being developed in three phases with the first phase completed mid-2013. ...
were announced, reaching 20 by April 20. This prompted advisories from health authorities in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. A major outbreak of cases in northwest Saskatchewan (centered upon the remote community of
La Loche La Loche () is a village in northwest Saskatchewan. It is located at the end of Highway 155 on the eastern shore of Lac La Loche in Canada's boreal forest. La Loche had a population of 2,827 in 2016 and is within the Northern Saskatchewan Admini ...
) was attributed to cases imported from Kearl. The town of High River had 164 cases and one death as of April 17, 2020, with some of the patients being employees of the
Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in term ...
meat packing plant. The plant continued at a reduced capacity, but no layoffs had occurred as of April 17. As of April 17, there were 358 cases linked to the plant, accounting for 15% of the province's cases. United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union Local 401 lobbied unsuccessfully for the plant's closure since the point at which health authorities were aware of 38 cases linked to the facility. On April 20, Cargill temporarily closed the facility after a total of 484 cases were confirmed. In July 2020, an outbreak emerged in Warner, Alberta—a U.S. border region which had, up until then, had no confirmed cases. On July 3, the number of active cases had increased to 39. The government stated that these cases were "all linked to known sources and stem largely from a small number of gatherings in large families or social groups." The AHS also stated that it was investigating a possible link between the outbreak to a recent funeral held by a nearby Hutterite colony. Officials in Saskatchewan had been working with Alberta to investigate whether interprovincial travel may have led to an outbreak at Hutterite colonies in southwestern Saskatchewan.


Statistics


2020 cases


2022 cases


Geographic distribution of cases

The Alberta government maintains a geospatial tracker, which provides more specific geographic data, such as active cases per city region, city, or county.


See also

2022 monkeypox outbreak in Canada


References


External links


Government of Alberta – COVID-19 info for Albertans
an
Interactive data

Total cases
at docs.google.com
Daily new cases
at docs.google.com {{COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
COVID-19 pandemic Disasters in Alberta Health in Alberta
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
Alberta timelines
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
2021 in Alberta