Medicine Hat is now under COVID watch status, which puts it under new restrictions, depicted in the lefthand column of the picture.--SCREENSHOTS
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Medicine Hat is now under watch status, according to Alberta Health Services.
The province announced area-specific restrictions on gatherings Thursday aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19. Municipalities with 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people are marked as purple on a government watch map.
Medicine Hat’s case count jumped to 34 Friday, putting the city over the 50 case per 100,000 projection.
New restrictions in Medicine Hat include no social gatherings in your home or outside of your community, 15-person limit on social gatherings and a limit of three cohorts – plus child care.
Masks are encouraged for indoor workplaces, according to the guidelines. Employers are to reduce the amount of staff working at the office when possible.
Restaurants and bars must stop liquor sales by 10 p.m. They must close by 11 p.m.
There is a 50-person limit on wedding and funeral gatherings.
Faith-based gatherings are limited to one-third capacity.
The Calgary area, Edmonton area, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Red Deer are marked specifically by the province as places to watch, with extended measures. Those include a two-week ban on indoor fitness group activities. There is also a two-week ban on group singing classes, group dance classes and team sports.
As of Friday, the two-week bans do not apply to Medicine Hat.
On the AHS map, Medicine Hat’s population is listed at 68,057. Cypress County is listed with a population of 11,218. Forty Mile is listed with a population of 6,443.
AHS assistant communications director Tom McMillan said in an email that population numbers may be higher when estimated.
“Some population estimates for towns or city areas on the geospatial map may be slightly higher than what they should be. This primarily occurs when people living in rural areas with new postal codes haven’t yet updated their address of residence with Alberta Health or when they use a PO Box rather than their home address. In these cases, their postal code is attributed to a neighbouring town or city (e.g. Medicine Hat). Unfortunately, if we do not receive updated information, we are unable to reclassify a person’s address for them,” he said.
