(Your Alberta/ YouTube)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Province to lift almost all restrictions March 1

Feb 26, 2022 | 12:35 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- The Alberta government will be moving forward with its plan to lift a majority of COVID-19 restrictions come Tuesday, March 1 .

Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement Saturday Morning in Grande Prairie while marking the opening of the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.

The premier said that since the start of Step one at the beginning of February, positivity rates have continued to decline, and hospitalizations both in intensive and non-intensive care have steadily declined and have been at their lowest level since Jan. 22.

“Over the last three weeks, cases and hospitalizations have continued to drop as we have started lifting restrictions. This promising trend puts Alberta in a position to safely remove the majority of remaining public health measures. This is a good day for Albertans as we get another step closer to getting back to normal.” Kenney said.

Under step two of the province’s reopening plan, masking requirements in high-risk settings will continue, including at AHS facilities, continuing care centres and on public transit. Isolation remains mandatory for anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test result.

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The following restrictions will also be eased starting March 1:

• Remaining provincial school requirements (including cohorting) will be removed.
• Screening prior to youth activities will no longer be required.
• Capacity limits will be lifted for all venues.
• Limits on social gatherings will be removed.
• The provincial mask mandate will be lifted in most settings. However, masking will still be required in high-risk settings, including on public transit, at Alberta Health Services-operated and contracted facilities and all continuing care settings.
• Restrictions on interactive activities, liquor service and operating hours will be lifted
• Mandatory work-from-home requirements will be removed

During the press briefing, Kenney asked Albertans to be patient with one another as the province makes the transition.

” There will be some who will choose to wear a mask or make choices about their activities based on their own personal risk assessment, and we need to respect those choices,” he said.

“I realize it is difficult to shift a point of view and contemplate the future when so much of the past two years has taught us uncertainty. But we just cannot continue to live our lives indefinitely with restrictions, on our rights and freedoms on our normal lives,” Kenney added.

The rate at which the province enters stage 3, which would remove mandatory isolation and COVID-19 continuing care requirements, would depend on a further downward trend in hospitalization rates, the province said.

More to come.