Alberta is gradually lifting public health measures.
The province is launching a three-phased plan to remove public health measures, starting on Feb. 8, a provincial government media release said.
“The vast majority of Albertans are now fully vaccinated. It’s a major factor that now allows us to ease restrictions, but we will do so only as conditions show that our health system’s capacity is recovering. Albertans can help make that possible by getting every vaccine dose they are eligible for,” Minister of Health Jason Copping said in the release.
On Tuesday, Alberta moved to step one, which included removing the Restrictions Exemption Program and capacity limits on venues under 500.
Mandatory masking for children, youth in schools, and for youth aged 12 and under in any setting will end Feb. 13 at 11:59 p.m.
“The last two years have taken a significant toll on Albertans’ overall health, social and economic well-being. Now that we are through the worst of the fifth wave and have achieved high vaccination rates, it is time to shift to a balanced approach where we are able to live with COVID-19 and return to normal,” Premier Jason Kenney said.
Next steps include changes to working from home, mask requirements, large venue capacity limits, indoor social gathering limits, and removing isolation requirements and COVID-specific measures in continuing care settings, the release said.
The second phase to the plan is expected to be in effect on March 1 and includes the removal of any remaining provincial school requirements, removal of health screenings before youth activities, lifting capacity limits for all venues, removing limits on social gatherings, removing provincial mask mandates, and removing the mandatory work from home order.
Step three will be determined based on hospitalization rates and will include the removal of COVID-specific measures in continuing care facilities, and mandatory isolation becoming a recommendation only.
Additional details on all restrictions and measures in place will be released before each step at alberta.ca/CovidMeasures.
