详情——阿省今天公布的更严厉控新冠病措施

原始发布日期： 2020-12-08 发布者：虫子

Alberta imposes tough new restrictions in bid to curb soaring COVID-19 infections.

Provincewide mask mandate takes effect immediately; casinos, restaurants, pubs closing on Sunday.

Due to Alberta’s high case numbers, aggressive action is required now to protect our health system from being overwhelmed.

The current situation is critical. These mandatory restrictions apply provincewide and will be in place at least until January 12, 2021.

Health officials are monitoring the situation and will adjust measures if required.

Gathering restrictions

Alberta declared a State of Public Health Emergency to protect the health care system from COVID-19. Social gatherings are the top source of transmission.

Effective Dec. 8, all indoor and outdoor social gatherings are prohibited. This will be enforced with $1,000 fines.

The closures taking effect at midnight Sunday include all:

• Restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges and cafes to in-person service. Only takeout, curbside pickup and delivery services will be permitted.

• Casinos, bingo halls, gaming entertainment centres, racing entertainment centres, horse tracks, raceways, bowling alleys, pool halls, legions and private clubs.

• Recreational facilities such as fitness centres, recreation centres, pools, spas, gyms, studios, camps, indoor rinks and arenas.

• Libraries, science centres, interpretive centres, museums, galleries, amusement parks and water parks.

• Businesses offering personal and wellness services such as hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlours and massage businesses.

Funerals and wedding ceremonies will be limited to 10 people.

Regulated health services such as physiotherapy, social or protective services, shelters for vulnerable persons, emergency services and soup kitchens can remain open for in-person attendance.

Hotels may remain open but must follow all relevant restrictions. Outdoor recreation is permitted but facilities with indoor space will be closed except for the washrooms.

New support for small business

At Tuesday's news conference, Doug Schweitzer, the minister of jobs, economy and innovation, said the government will expand the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant, with a new lower threshold and increased grant amounts.

"We have reports saying that 40 per cent of these small businesses may not be able to turn the lights back on if we don't provide them with supports," Schweitzer said. "That's the extent of what we're facing here in our province — 40 per cent may not come back, unless we step in and provide them with supports now.

"So that's why the premier, our cabinet, last night met as a team to try to figure out how we could support them to get them through to the other side."

Businesses will be eligible to apply for a second payment through the program, for a total of up to $20,000 in potential funding each, up from the original $5,000.

Up to 15,000 more businesses may be eligible for government funding, the province said in a news release.

The program will also expand to include businesses that have experienced revenue losses of at least 30 per cent due to the pandemic, lowering the threshold from the former requirement of 40 per cent revenue losses.

Other descriptions:

The Alberta government ordered the closure of all casinos and gyms, banned dine-in service at restaurants and bars, and imposed a mandatory provincewide mask requirement on Tuesday under new restrictions aimed at curbing the province's soaring COVID-19 infection rates.

The province also banned all outdoor and indoor social gatherings, and imposed mandatory work-from-home measures.

Premier Jason Kenney says he recognizes the measures will change how Albertans celebrate Christmas.

But they are necessary to slow the growth in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, he said, citing at-home social gatherings as the biggest single source of viral transmissions.

"If we relax the public health measures to permit large family gatherings in just three weeks' time, we will, without a shadow of a doubt, see a large increase in hospitalizations and fatalities," Kenney said at a news conference Tuesday.

"We simply cannot let this Christmas turn into a tragedy for many families."

Both the masking mandate and the ban on social gatherings take effect immediately. The work-from-home measures — and other new restrictions — will go into effect at midnight on Sunday. Farms are excluded from the mask mandate.

( From CBC and alberta.ca )

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