Check against delivery.
Thank you, Tom, and good afternoon everyone.
Over the last 24 hours, we have identified 1,738 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, and completed about 21,000 new tests.
Our provincial positivity rate remains high at about 8.3%, and we now have 20,161 active cases.
There are 684 people in hospital, including 123 who have been admitted into the ICU.
Sadly, there were 18 deaths related to COVID-19 reported to us in the past 24 hours.
My sympathies go out to those mourning their loss.
I know the current gathering restrictions continue to make it challenging for the family and friends of these individuals, and for anyone who has lost a loved one to any cause, to grieve in the ways that we are used to.
Please reach out in other ways to those you know who are navigating a difficult time.
In schools, there are currently active alerts or outbreaks in 458 schools, about 19% of schools in the province.
Currently these schools have a combined total of 1,947 active cases.
This number includes 293 schools with outbreaks, including 123 currently on the watch list.
I know Albertans continue to watch these numbers closely, particularly for what it means for our acute care facilities.
I want to share changes that Alberta Health Services is making to their designated support and visitation guidelines.
AHS has made the difficult decision to limit on-site designated support people in all acute care facilities.
Effective Monday, access for designated support persons in AHS acute care settings will be limited to just one designated support person for each patient in
- Ambulatory care,
- Emergency departments,
- urgent care,
- maternity/postpartum
- and other inpatient areas.
Access will be limited to up to two designated support persons for each patient in critical care, pediatrics and the NICU.
In many facilities these new guidelines will mean little change from the regulations that are already in place.
There are some exceptions and exemptions so patients and families entering AHS facilities should contact the care team directly or visit ahs.ca/visitation before entering.
We know these restrictions will be difficult – especially during the holiday season.
But they are needed to stop spread of the virus and keep patients safe.
We must do everything possible to bend down the curve. There is no other option.
Bending the curve is also why we have launched a new, light-hearted marketing campaign that uses humour to reach Albertans under 40 and anyone else who may have tuned out our other messaging.
These ads feature a personified character representing COVID-19 at gatherings and in various other social situations.
These ads were filmed last month under strict protocols to protect the safety of everyone present.
The cast and crew were required to these follow strict measures including screening, off-camera masking and distancing at all times when the camera wasn’t rolling.
Our goal is to get people’s attention, to help them see common situations from a different perspective, and as a result, to influence their actions.
The campaign uses humour because this situation is serious, and we need to use every tool at our disposal to reach all Albertans.
Lives depend on our ability to bend down the curve and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
I want the families of the 684 Albertans lost to this virus and everyone currently fighting it, to know that we are using every communication tool we have to help stop the spread.
It’s been a challenging week in our province and, it is easy to feel hopeless, and powerless.
But there is hope, and together we are powerful.
We cannot change the number of new cases being reported today.
And the cases we will see tomorrow are the result of how we behaved last week and the week before.
But next week’s numbers, and the weeks after that are in our control.
The future is up to all of us.
I want to thank everyone who has embraced the province-wide mask mandate and restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings that went into effect on Tuesday.
By following those measures, you are already helping to reduce the number of cases that we will see later this month.
The other restrictions announced earlier this week for businesses and services will begin Saturday night at midnight.
This is a deadline for implementation, but please consider what is possible to do before that to limit spread.
I know owners, operators and employees have been working hard to get ready for these changes, but we all need to start changing our behaviour right now.
We do not need to wait for the clock to strike midnight on Saturday and for those public health orders go into effect, to begin doing our part.
This weekend, please do not rush into malls or cram into businesses tomorrow before the restrictions kick in.
Don’t host a holiday or Hanukkah party just because you don’t think you’ll get caught.
Don’t plan a family gathering just because you’re pretty sure that your family doesn’t have COVID.
Every action we take is like throwing a stone into a lake – it ripples out and we cannot know where those ripples will end.
By altering our day-to-day actions immediately, we can reduce the number of new cases we’ll see in the weeks ahead.
It won’t be easy – nothing really is when it comes to this virus – but I know we can do it.
In the spring and throughout the summer, we collectively kept our cases low and slowed the spread of COVID-19 in our province.
Now is the time for us to do that again.
We are in this together.
Thank you and I’m happy to answer any questions.