By Chris Brown

Still must remain vigilant

State of public health emergency over in Alberta

Jun 15, 2020 | 3:41 PM

The state of public health emergency will lapse in Alberta, said Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

“We’ve come a long way since the state of emergency was declared on March 15,” he said, adding the past three months have been difficult as Albertans have made sacrifices and adapted to a “new normal.”

“We faced an enormous test, and we passed with flying colours,” he said.

Shandro was clear that even though the state of emergency is lapsing, it does not remove or impact the existing orders Dr. Deena Hinshaw has put in place. It also has no effect on her ability to issue more orders in the days ahead, if needed.

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“COVID is still with us and we must all still remain vigilant,” said Shandro.

There were 20 new cases confirmed in Alberta in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 7,453.

There have been 6,862 recoveries in the province and there are 440 active cases. There are currently 31 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, seven of which are in ICU.

Hinshaw also announced one new death, for a total of 151.

There are two new cases in the South Zone, one of which is in Brooks. There are 1,277, 24 active and 1,243 recovered.

That city now has two active cases and 1,107 recovered cases. There have been nine COVID-19 deaths in Brooks.

Numbers in Medicine Hat remain unchanged. The city is currently showing one active case and 35 recovered cases for a total of 36 cases.

Hinshaw said health officials are closely watching any gatherings where physical distancing guidelines are not followed.

“Social events where people are not keeping two metres distant or wearing masks are high-risk activities,” said the chief medical officer of health. “We are not seeing patterns of spread at this point linked to casual contact or public places,” she said.

She added the “success of our relaunch is anchored in all of us doing our part, and the measures in place will get us there.”

Hinshaw later said that as social gatherings become more common, social cohorts should remain intact.

“What we’re looking at is that those for example, someone who is single and wants to be able to spend time with friends, if a group of friends up to 15 people again outside of a person’s household want to be able to spend time together, that you would really keep it within that group … so you want to try to keep that group closed,” she said. “If there is transmission within that group, then it wouldn’t then spread to others.”

Hinshaw will provide her next in-person update on Wednesday. The province will update the numbers online Tuesday.

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

Cypress County is showing zero active cases and 21 recovered, while the County of Newell is showing zero active cases and 20 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 34 cases, five listed as active and 29. Lethbridge County has two cases currently considered active.

Read the full June 15 update from the province here.