Mayor Ted Clugston speaks to reporters at city hall in this June file photo while director of emergency management Merrick Brown looks on. The city expects COVID cases to spike significantly here in the next week and are warning Hatters that the province may extend voluntary restrictions to the region.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Local officials predict a dramatic increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat this week, and say the province may soon extend voluntary measures here.
No new localized data was added to provincial public information websites late last week as the they underwent work, but that changed Monday.
Active cases in Medicine Hat rose to 28, but were coupled with similar numbers in surrounding rural municipalities, including Cypress County (28) and Forty Mile (27).
The figures put the city close to ranges where “COVID Watch” status would be observed, and where a 15-person limit of social gatherings, both indoors and out, becomes mandatory.
There were 644 new cases in the province Monday, following record figures on the weekend.
“These numbers are concerning, and we’re considering what further steps may be needed,” Alberta’s chief medical officer Deena Hinsahaw said during the afternoon update.
“We can’t simply dictate where and when this virus will spread. We all need to protect each other.”
While such restrictions, like asking to restrict indoor social gatherings, have been mostly voluntary to this point, city emergency management officials said they should be heeded both for the general safety of the population and to avoid stricter measures.
“We have seen an increase across the province and the city … and we need to increase that message and assist AHS where we can,” said Merrick Brown, the city’s director of emergency management, on Monday morning in a first “COVID” update since the summer.
“I suspect once the (provincial COVID) website is repaired, that our cases will rise.”
Figures typically come out at about 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, but hadn’t been updated for the local community since last week due to reported computer issues at Alberta Health Services.
Medicine Hat had sat at about 15 cases recently, after seeing single digits and at times, zero cases, this summer.
An interactive list and map of the region’s cases and restrictions can be found via links at alberta.ca or here.
Brown stressed that the City of Medicine Hat has no say and virtually no power or responsibility to enforce Alberta Health regulations outside its facilities. People should visit the Alberta government’s website to clear up confusion and get current information.
“When we hit ‘watch status’ there’s more information about what you can and can’t do,” he said. “We can flip in an out of watch status, which can get quite confusing.”
At this point the City of Medicine Hat is not considering local crowd size bylaws or mask bylaws, because new spread is believed to be centred in private settings.
A municipality enters “watch” status when it reaches 50 active cases per 100,000 people in the population. For Medicine Hat, with 63,000 citizens, the bare figure is about 30 cases.
At 28, Medicine Hat’s “active cases per 100,000 people” figure is 41.
In less populated areas, a large number of cases leads to a much larger “per-100,000” figure.
The province invoked a “voluntary cohort” limit of three in Calgary, Edmonton and other watch communities last week. That involves a limit of three to groups, including immediate households, but households who access childcare can have four.
As well, a 15-person limit of private social gatherings, both indoors and out, has been introduced, with a full-stop on gatherings in private homes urged.
There is also a general call to avoid high-risk activities, limit indoor gatherings, and maintain cohorts.
There were no official restrictions on places of business or public settings as of Monday morning aside from some limits on spectator events.
As always, health officials ask that people outside cohorts remain two metres apart, wash hands frequently and remain home and isolation when feeling sick.
