Places of worship are restricted to one-third capacity, website changed

By GILLIAN SLADE on December 2, 2020.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

There has been a change to the COVID-19 restrictions for places of worship.

When new restrictions were announced by the government last week, Premier Jason Kenney verbally stated that places of worship were restricted to one third of the building’s capacity under the fire code.

When the government’s website was updated it was a different story, with places of worship restricted to one third of regular attendance. A spokesperson for Alberta Health told the News that the regular attendance number would be determined by the leader.

Michaela Glasgo, MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat, says that was causing uncertainty.

“Faith communities were confused by an error and I took it upon myself to research and find them accurate information,” said Glasgo, noting that it is one third of the building capacity that is the official requirement.

The government’s website has now been changed.

“For faith services, the maximum in-person attendance is 1/3 of the occupancy set under the Alberta Fire Code.”

A spokesperson for Alberta Health apologized for the confusion and says it happened “due to a simple miscommunication within Alberta Health.”

Glasgo says a third of the fire code capacity “provides more certainty to worship centres rather than suggesting that they estimate regular attendance and average from there.”

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