Alberta’s top doctor says COVID-19 restrictions are working to reduce case numbers | FULL

Alberta’s latest COVID-19 daily case counts and active case total show recently-introduced public health restrictions are working to curb the third wave of the disease, according to the province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

Hinshaw said on Tuesday that since stricter public health measures were introduced three weeks ago, the province’s number of active cases have declined 52 per cent from the peak earlier this month.

Stricter measures were reintroduced at the beginning of this month, including moving schools online and shutting down personal wellness services, amid surging numbers of cases and hospitalizations.

On the weekend, Premier Jason Kenney said in a tweet there would be an announcement this week about loosened public health restrictions for the summer.

When asked about whether there are specific benchmarks guiding that process, Hinshaw said the details about the specific criteria would be made public “this week,” but reiterated that vaccination rates and prevention of transmission — and therefore reducing stress on hospitals and ICUs – are still key guiding factors in the reopening plan.

“We all know what we need to do to reduce transmission – we’ve all been doing it for a long time — so the more we can do that in the coming weeks, the more successful we’ll be able to be in moving toward the kind of summer we all want to see.”

Alberta Health said Tuesday afternoon that Kenney would provide an update on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. regarding “COVID-19 and the province’s strategy for safely easing restrictions” for summer.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7891695/alberta-covid-19-cases-update-may-25-2021/

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