By Chris Brown

No new COVID-19 cases in South Zone

Province wants to see students back in school in September

Jun 10, 2020 | 3:46 PM

Alberta wants to see students will be back in the classroom in September, says the province’s education minister.

“Near-normal operations will resume and students will return to daily in-school classes with some health measures,” Adriana LaGrange said today of the preferred scenario of the government. “Based on the information we have at hand right now, we expect that students will be at school in September.”

LaGrange said a decision will be made by August 1 by the government, not by local school authorities, based on public health guidance.

The province also has two other potential scenarios in mind. One will see in-school classes only partially resume because of additional health requirements. In the other, at-home learning will continue.

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The return to in-class learning may vary by region and will depend on the number of total cases of COVID-19 in the area.

There are no new cases of COVID-19 in the South Zone, which remains at 1,268. Alberta as a whole recorded 47 new cases.

There have been 6,754 recoveries and there are currently 371 active cases. The total number of cases in the province is 7,276.

There are 42 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, six of which are in the ICU. There were no COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Case numbers in Medicine Hat and Brooks have not changed for the past three days.

Medicine Hat is currently showing one active case and 35 recovered cases for a total of 36 cases.

In Brooks, the update shows 1,117 total cases — one active case and 1,107 recovered. There are nine deaths in Brooks.

As Alberta moves into Stage 2 of relaunch on Friday, some are eager to move forward while others are anxious.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said both responses are natural and valid.

“We are in a time of balance where we need to balance the needs of some Albertans for the reopening and the needs of others for safety and we need to hold those together in tension. This virus is still with us and I remind all Albertans we are the best protection for ourselves, our friends and our neighbours.”

As Alberta plans for students to get back to classes in September, Hinshaw said increased safety measures will be in place, including increased cleaning, routine screening for illness, a stay-at-home policy for staff and students who are ill and physical distancing wherever possible.

She said student cohorts could be created and masks, while not required, could be used where physical distancing is not possible.

On May 11, the province began putting a more detailed chart online for each zone.

Cypress County is showing one active case and 20 recovered, while the County of Newell is showing one active case and 19 recovered.

The County of Forty Mile and Municipal District of Taber each have two confirmed cases both listed as recovered.

Special Areas No. 2 has no cases on the map. There was previously one recovered case and one death attributed to the region.

The City of Lethbridge has 32 cases, four listed as active and 28 recovered. Lethbridge County has one case currently considered active.