Alberta is now ahead of the curve in flattening the curve of COVID-19 transmissions – but Premier Jason Kenney warns the government has no plans to skip ahead in the planned reopening..Kenney told a Thursday night virtual townhall meeting of UCP members, the path forward depends on three-week gaps between each step to ensure adequate assessments on viral spreads and hospitalizations..To maintain Phase One benchmarks, the province needs to be under 600 hospitalizations. For Phase Two and Three, the magic number is 450 and 300 hospitalizations, respectively..As of Wednesday, 362 Albertans are hospitalized, including 55 in the ICU because of COVID-19..Alberta Health Services said the effects of easing current restrictions take two weeks to manifest, and the threat of a more contagious COVID variant threatens that path forward..“We have to ease restrictions in a very gradual and careful way,” said Kenney..“We have to do this step by step, with a decision on the next step made over the next couple of weeks.”.However, the premier acknowledged the vast majority of Alberta businesses could operate within the public health guidelines, except event-based businesses..Though sympathetic to their concerns as a business, his top priority remains Albertans’ health and safety..“For Phase Three, we have to get below 300 hospitalizations but need to ease restrictions one step at a time,” said Premier Kenney..“With these new variants – which can be massively more contagious – as we’ve seen in Israel and the U.K., it can be devastating. We have to be careful lest we put at risk the gains we have made,” he said..Dhaliwal is a Western Standard Reporter based in Edmonton
