COVID-19 Update: Mask bylaw in place until at least July 5 | 60 new cases | Active cases fall to zero in Banff
Watch this page throughout the day for updates on COVID-19 in Calgary
Article content
With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.
What’s happening now
- Calgary city council has voted to keep the city’s mandatory mask bylaw in place until at least July 5.
- Alberta reported only 60 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the lowest daily count since early August.
- Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will be able to return to Canada without a mandatory quarantine on July 5.
- Alberta reported 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as well as one additional death. The positivity rate was 2.05 per cent.
- Calgary city council will debate on Monday when the city’s face-covering bylaw should expire.
- Albertans who have received a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine are being asked to call 811 to book their second shot.
- Health Canada says 20 per cent of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated.
- Alberta reported 127 new cases and six deaths on Saturday. The positivity rate was 2.5 per cent.
- Anyone who received their vaccine in May can now book their second dose.
- Premier Jason Kenney said the province will reopen on Canada Day, July 1, after the province hit the 70 per cent first dose threshold.
- Canada said Friday it will extend restrictions that bar non-essential travel at U.S. land borders until at least July 21.
Calgary will keep mandatory mask rules until at least July 5, past Phase 3 reopening
City council was divided on the future of Calgary’s mandatory mask rules Monday, but they decided to keep them in place a little longer than Alberta’s date to lift virtually all pandemic restrictions.
Phase 3 of the provincial reopening plan will take effect July 1, removing all gathering restrictions, capacity limits and the provincial mask mandate. But Calgary has its own municipal face-covering mandate that’s been in effect since last August, and city council has the power to decide how long that stays in effect.
The city mask bylaw requires face coverings in any publicly accessible indoor space or vehicle in Calgary. That covers retail stores, building lobbies, taxis and public transit, among others. Businesses must also display signs informing people of the rules. Failure to do either could get you a fine, and council recently increased the penalty for not wearing a mask where it’s required to $500.
City officials recommended Monday that council keep the rules until the end of July rather than lift the mask mandate as soon as Phase 3 begins.
Council didn’t go quite that far, but instead voted in favour of a motion from Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart to return to the issue on July 5 with the intention of “repealing the bylaw as soon as possible.” At that point, they’ll assess COVID-19 positivity rates, infection rates and vaccinations and make a decision.
Alberta reports 60 new COVID-19 cases, lowest since last summer
Alberta’s top doctor is encouraging people to book the first vaccine appointment available to them, whether it’s Pfizer or Moderna, as the province reports only 60 new cases of COVID-19.
While the two mRNA vaccines are not identical, they are very similar and Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended the Pfizer and Moderna shots be used interchangeably for people’s second doses.
In its update today, Alberta Health reported 2,003 active cases in the province, 954 of them in the Calgary zone. Hospitalizations also continue to fall. There are 214 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 56 requiring intensive care.
Security safeguards for vaccine passport app needed, but haven’t been done: privacy commissioner
The Liberal government must ensure its plans to vet travellers’ COVID-19 vaccination status using an app have adequate limitations and safeguards, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said.
Therrien said his office has been in general talks with the government about how it could collect vaccination documents at the border, but not about the specific plans announced Monday to use the ArriveCAN app for that purpose.
“We have been consulted by the government on these general notions. The precise details not yet, but there is a meeting to occur later this week where we will hear more formally from health officials,” Therrien told the House ethics committee.
Local advocate for social justice, equity Marichu Antonio honoured as Citizen of the Year in Calgary Awards
Local advocate Marichu Antonio was recognized Monday with Calgary’s Citizen of the Year Award for her work as a champion of equity and inclusion for the city’s culturally diverse communities.
Antonio has worked for 12 years as the executive director of Action Dignity, a community-based organization that advocates for Calgary’s ethnocultural communities and facilitates collective action.
“My vision for Calgary is a city that values and appreciates and respects everyone equally, regardless of the colour of their skin, the language they speak, their gender identity or their economic status,” said Antonio in an announcement video from the city.
During the pandemic, under Antonio’s leadership, Action Dignity focused on offering emergency support to Calgarians, including essential workers at the Cargill and JBS meat-packing plants which grappled with massive COVID-19 outbreaks.
“I am most proud of leading the formation of the multicultural, multilingual emergency response to COVID-19, a hotline that serves racialized communities in 24 different languages and listens to their problems,” Antonio said.
Active COVID-19 count falls to zero in Banff, where cases were soaring in April
There’s light at the end of the tunnel in Banff as active COVID-19 cases reached zero over the weekend after hitting a peak in late April that put the town among the highest cases per capita in the province.
Silivo Adamo, the town’s director of emergency management, credited those vaccinations with bringing the outbreak under control.
Even fully vaccinated, Canada will have to be vigilant against COVID outbreaks: Tam
Canada is likely to hit major vaccine milestones in the next month with as much as 80 per cent of the country fully covered, but the country will still have to be ready for flare-ups and outbreaks, according to Canada’s chief public health officer.
Vaccine shipments set to arrive in July will be enough to cover 80 per cent of Canadians with two doses, but in most countries around the world, especially developing ones, vaccine coverage won’t be anywhere near that high. And until vaccine coverage is high across the world, new variants could continue to emerge and strain public health resources.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said Canada will have to be vigilant even after vaccinations reach a high point.
Up to 10,000 spectators allowed at each Olympics venue despite warnings
Olympics organizers on Monday capped the number of spectators at 10,000 for each venue at the Tokyo 2020 Games, days after experts warned that holding the event without fans would be the least risky option during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision, widely expected following comments by both organizers and government medical advisers, highlights Japan’s push to salvage the multi-billion-dollar extravaganza amid public opposition and deep concern about a resurgence in infections.
Despite 500,000 COVID deaths, Brazilians insist on waiting for Pfizer shots
Brazil hit the grim mark of half a million Covid deaths Saturday, a toll second only to the U.S. that shows few signs of easing. Yet residents are spurning vaccines that they believe are substandard in favor of hard-to-find shots from Pfizer Inc.
In Sao Paulo, people demand the U.S. company’s shots at public clinics and often walk out if none are available. Some health-care centers have put up signs saying “no Pfizer shots” to save time. Many vaccination centers are empty, and the few that have Pfizer have massive lines.
Such reluctance is hobbling a vaccination campaign already plagued by shortages and delays. Failure to control the disease would harm not only Brazilians, who are dying at the rate of about 2,000 a day, but also threaten a global resurgence of the pandemic if the nation of 213 million becomes a breeding ground for new strains.
World Bank, African Union join forces to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines
WASHINGTON — The World Bank and the African Union said on Monday they would work together to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations for up to 400 million people across Africa, bolstering efforts to vaccinate 60% of the continent’s population by 2022.
In a joint statement, the World Bank and the African Union said their agreement would provide needed resources to the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative, allowing countries to purchase and deploy more vaccines.
The initiative will complement efforts already underway by the COVAX vaccine-sharing program, which is co-run by the World Health Organization. A WHO official on Monday said more than half of poorer countries receiving doses via COVAX do not have enough supplies to continue.
The new World Bank initiative comes amid shortages caused in part by manufacturing delays and Indian supply disruptions, with cases and deaths rising as a third wave of infections sweeps across Africa.
Alberta says Pfizer, Moderna vaccines ‘interchangeable’ amid shipment delay
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are “interchangeable” and Albertans should book the earliest appointment for whichever is available, provincial officials say amid a shipment delay.
Alberta is set to receive about 280,000 doses of Pfizer this week, but Canada’s scheduled shipment of 2.4 million doses isn’t expected to arrive until mid-week.
Calgary Stampede prizes added to vaccination lottery
The province has announced it is adding Calgary Stampede prizes to its lottery encouraging Albertans to get vaccinated.
Stampede family admissions and ride packages, rodeo and performance packages, as well as general admissions, will be included in the first Open for Summer Lottery draw. Winners will be announced on July 1, when Stage 3 of Alberta’s reopening begins.
All Albertans 18 and over are eligible to register for the lottery once they’ve received their COVID-19 vaccine. This includes Albertans who already received one or both shots of vaccine. Eligibility for the first draw will close at 11:59 p.m. on June 24.
More than 1.5 million Albertans have entered the province’s lottery, which currently includes three draws for $1 million and travel prizes from Air Canada and WestJet.
Click here for more information or to enter the lottery.
COVID-19 developments around Canada on Monday
Manitoba is reporting 74 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death today. Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, says while infections are going down, hospitalizations remain too high. There are 265 Manitobans hospitalized and 73 are in intensive care. Fifteen Manitobans remain in intensive care in other provinces.
Ontario is reporting 270 new COVID-19 cases today and three more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. The province says 323 people are in intensive care with COVID-19-related critical illness and 202 people are on ventilators.
Quebec is reporting 90 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths. Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by two, to 168, and 39 people were in intensive care, unchanged since the prior day. Premier Francois Legault received his second COVID-19 vaccination today at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and urged Quebecers to get fully vaccinated.
Health authorities in Nova Scotia are reporting no new cases of COVID-19 for the first time in almost three months. Premier Iain Rankin said today it’s a great way to start the summer. The province has 79 active reported cases, which includes three people recovering in hospital.
Border quarantine to soon lift for fully vaccinated Canadians
Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will soon be able to return to Canada without a mandatory quarantine.
The first stage in loosening the border restrictions that have been in place for 15 months will begin at 11:59 p.m. eastern time on July 5.
It will apply only to people already eligible to travel to Canada, including citizens, permanent residents, and people registered under the Indian Act.
Those travellers must have two doses of a vaccine approved by Health Canada, provide a negative COVID-19 test from 72 hours before arrival, take a second test upon arrival, and have a quarantine plan in the event the arrival test comes back positive.
All others will still have to stay in hotel quarantine for up to three days pending a negative arrival test, and then quarantine at home for the remainder of the 14-day period.
Children who aren’t vaccinated will be able to return home with their parents, but must quarantine there for two weeks and take a second test eight days after arriving home.
Federal ministers provided an update. Watch it here:
https://youtu.be/zBNWinx9zRc
Class of 2021 stays afloat amid rise and fall of COVID’s stormy waters
In a school year like no other, the Class of 2021 has navigated a sea storm.
From the rising wave of excitement with the restart of classes in September — finally seeing friends and favourite teachers — to the sudden crash of quarantine, isolated yet again as provincial directives forced them to grasp complex curriculum as they sat alone, for hours, in front of computers at home.
Still, somehow, they managed to stay afloat, and will celebrate graduation over the last weeks of June, albeit in a safe, socially distanced and virtual way.
During this unprecedented 2020-21 academic year, high schools, with their larger classes and crowded hallways, faced some of the highest rates of COVID cases and quarantines.
Many times, outbreaks saw individual schools closed for weeks. Other times, mandated restrictions sent kids across the province home to learn, then called them back, then sent them home again.
“It was chaotic,” said Luke Bent, a graduate from Queen Elizabeth High School.
Sunday
Alberta reports 100 new cases as uptake for second doses of COVID-19 vaccine remains high
Another 100 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Alberta on Sunday, marking the lowest daily number recorded since early September, as uptake for second doses of vaccine remains high.
The 100 new cases reported Sunday came from nearly 4,900 tests, representing a positivity rate of only two per cent, which was lower than the 2.45 per cent positivity documented on Saturday. This is the fewest cases reported in a single day since Sept. 8 when the province detected 96 new cases.
Nearly 30 per cent of Alberta’s eligible population — those age 12 and over — have returned to a clinic or pharmacy to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Second dose appointments were opened to everyone on Friday, though those who received an mRNA vaccine should wait four weeks between shots.
The Calgary zone is home to 1,005 active cases, while the Edmonton and North zones have just over 400 cases each, the Central zone has 218 and the South zone has only 78.
Across the province, there are 214 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 53 requiring treatment in intensive-care units.
One additional COVID death was reported Sunday, bringing Alberta’s death toll to 2,290. The death was of a woman in her 80s from the Calgary zone.
Sunday
Calgary councillors want more support for parks amid increased pandemic use
Two city councillors are asking for more support to keep Calgary’s parks in good condition as the COVID-19 pandemic has seen people flock to outdoor green spaces.
Ward 1 Councillor Ward Sutherland and Ward 6 Councillor Jeff Davison have filed a notice of motion asking for a one-time $500,000 injection into the city parks department to help keep up with the increased use. They are also asking administration to outline the costs of creating a park pandemic response program.
Sutherland said on top of an increased in interest in parks the pandemic has highlighted there are more ways to use parks than what has been done in the past, citing the Bowness Park skateway as an example. He said a response program would be an investment at ensuring parks are well-kept and maintained between seasons and used to their full capacity.
Sunday
‘We’re pretty resilient:’ COVID-19 a bigger blow to Oyen, Hardisty than killing Keystone XL pipeline expansion: mayors
The mayors of two Alberta towns that saw booms as a result of the Keystone XL pipeline expansion before it was formally killed this month say COVID-19 hit the communities harder than the cancellation of the project will.
By the time the expansion was officially cancelled June 9, after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to revoke the pipeline’s permit in January, work had largely wrapped up in the Alberta towns of Hardisty and Oyen. Parts of the expansion, which was to run from Alberta to Nebraska, began construction last year.
In January, Calgary-based TC Energy, the pipeline’s owner, said it planned to eliminate more than 1,000 construction jobs as a result. Before then, Hardisty, 200 km southeast of Edmonton, had expected an influx of about 600 or so temporary workers spending locally during the construction season.
However, Mayor Douglas Irving said in June it was the COVID-19 pandemic that really took its toll on the town of about 550 people.
Sunday
U.S. extends travel restrictions at Canada, Mexico land borders through July 21
WASHINGTON — U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Sunday.
The 30-day extension came after Canada announced its own extension on Friday of the requirements that were set to expire on Monday and have been in place since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. government held working-group meetings with Canada and Mexico on the travel restrictions last week and plans to hold meetings about every two weeks, U.S. officials told Reuters.
Sunday
Review of stayed Alberta court cases anticipated to get back on track late this year
The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) expects to get back to reviewing a stayed court cases more regularly after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Known as the Jordan decision, the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016 set maximum time limits for trials to be concluded — 18 months in provincial court and 30 months for Court of Queen’s Bench. If the Crown causes trials to exceed those limits, the defence can argue that the accused’s Charter rights were breached.
A report by auditor general Doug Wylie, tabled in the legislature on June 10, showed ACPS conducted one Jordan analysis in 2019 but there is no evidence that further similar analysis has been completed or scheduled since. The auditor general recommended the ACPS do more analysis of what’s causing court cases to be delayed to the point where charges are dropped, however, those efforts have been hindered by the pandemic.
Sunday
Saskatchewan announces all COVID-19 public health measures will end July 11
REGINA — Saskatchewan will lift all remaining public health measures meant to protect against COVID-19 as of July 11, making it the second province to do so, behind only Alberta.
The province can move to Step 3 of its pandemic reopening plan because Saskatchewan is so close to reaching the vaccination thresholds needed for a full reopening, Premier Scott Moe said.
“We are able to make this announcement because so many Saskatchewan residents have done their part by getting vaccinated, so I’d like to say thanks to Saskatchewan people,” Moe said, announcing the news in the province’s daily pandemic update on Sunday.
“Over the past 15 months, Saskatchewan residents have diligently followed public health guidelines and restrictions, and over the past months they have followed through by getting vaccinated.”
Sunday
Israel working to revive COVID vaccine swap, after Palestinians reject soon-to-be expired doses
Israeli officials are working to revive talks to deliver vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after a deal last Friday was suddenly called off by PA officials who said that the vaccines were too close to their expiration date and do not meet their standards.
Some 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are still without sufficient vaccine supplies as shipments from other sources continue to lag even while their neighbor, Israel, is mostly returning to pre-pandemic life.
The announcement and abrupt cancellation of the deal has given rise to conspiracy theories and further damaged the low standing of the Palestinian Authority among its people.
Sunday
Small COVID-19 outbreaks keep plaguing Australia
MELBOURNE — Australia’s state of Queensland recorded one locally acquired coronavirus infection on Sunday, the latest streak of small outbreaks that have been plaguing the country in recent months.
The Queensland case comes as a cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant has grown by two cases to nine in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, prompting health officials to expand mask wearing rules.
“We know this strain, which is becoming the dominant strain, is extremely contagious and some people are spreading it more than others, and what we want to avoid at this stage is a super spreading event,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Australia has been highly successful in managing the spread of the coronavirus through swift border closures, social distancing rules and a high community compliance with them, reporting just over 30,300 cases and 910 COVID-19 deaths.
But the country has struggled with the vaccination rollout, and states have been plagued in recent months by small outbreaks, kept from spreading out of control through speedy contact tracing, isolation of thousands of people at a time, or snap hard lockdowns.
Sunday
Philippines seals deal for 40 million Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 doses
MANILA — The Philippine government has signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE in its biggest coronavirus vaccine deal to date.
Deliveries of the vaccine, among several brands of coronavirus shots allowed for emergency use in the Southeast Asian country, will begin in late September, Carlito Galvez, head of the government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement, said on Sunday.
The Philippines last week started a program to vaccinate 35 million people working outside their homes, while continuing to inoculate priority sectors such as healthcare workers and elderly citizens, hoping to achieve herd immunity this year.
More than 8 million doses have been administered, of which about 6 million were for first dose, suggesting a slow vaccine rollout that puts the government’s target to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year in doubt.
Sunday
Vietnam receives 500,000 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses donation from China
HANOI — Vietnam has received a shipment of 500,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses donated by China, the health ministry said on Sunday, as the country is ramping up inoculations to battle against a more widespread outbreak.
The Southeast Asian nation approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use against COVID-19 in early June.
The vaccines will be used for three groups: Chinese citizens in Vietnam, Vietnamese who have plan to work or study in China and people who live near the borders with China, the health ministry said in a statement.
Vietnam’s domestic inoculation program, which started in March, has so far relied heavily on around 4 million shots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.