By Chris Brown

Full update of numbers not available

Easing of restrictions must be slow and cautious: Hinshaw

Jan 18, 2021 | 4:39 PM

As public health restrictions are eased today for industries such as hair salons and tattoo parlours, Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the province must “proceed slowly and cautiously” to ease other restrictions.

Those in the restaurant and fitness sectors have pointed to other jurisdictions easing restrictions for them, but Alberta’s chief medical officer of health defends the province’s decisions.

She said the number of cases attributed to those types of environments “are higher than the activities that we have eased open this week.”

“What it comes down to is we must start with our easing of restrictions by allowing those things where we have data that indicates they are the lowest likelihood of having transmission occur in those settings and then moving on to potentially easing in other settings,” said Hinshaw.

She adds they are working with partners in industries across the board to ensure they are part of the discussion about easing restrictions in the future.

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Due to technical issues the province’s COVID-19 reporting site will not be updated until later today. Hinshaw said there are 474 new cases to report today, on about 8,500 tests for a positivity rate of about 5.4 per cent.

There are 739 Albertans in hospital, 120 of which are in ICU. There are also 11 deaths to report today, for a total of 1,447. CHAT News will post updated Medicine Hat numbers on our social media pages when they are available.

Hinshaw said that over the past month active cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and transmission rates have all declined, and said that’s a testament to the hard work and sacrifices of Albertans.

At the same time, she said, numbers are far higher than three months ago. Then, active cases were around 3,000 and now they are over 12,000, and hospitalizations were around 120 compared to more than 700 now.

“While it is encouraging to see these numbers going down, it is important to keep in mind that over the past 10 years the average annual recorded death toll from influenza has been 58 per year,” she said. “So having lost an additional 11 people (today) to COVID-19 should not be taken lightly.”

Premier Jason Kenney announced today that the first dose of the vaccinations has been completed at all 357 long-term care and designated supported living facilities in the province.

He also said the province will run out of vaccines by Tuesday morning.

The province is trying to get all seniors vaccinated as soon as possible.

Vaccinations for all seniors 75 years and older and those 65 years and older in First Nations communities and Metis settlements will happen as soon as more vaccine doses are available, Hinshaw said.

Hinshaw apologized to health-care workers for singling them out last week when she encouraged those who are eligible to sign up for appointments this past weekend.

“It was not my intention to add more stress to an already stressful time and I am sorry that my words had this impact.”

Read the full Jan. 18 update from the province here.