Why all the rules? Hinshaw, Kenney explain

By Medicine Hat News on February 4, 2021.

Impassioned pleas about lifting COVID restrictions were made to Premier Jason Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw in a telephone town hall meeting Wednesday evening.

The president of Alberta Dance Educators described the hardships for that industry and pleaded for a reopening date of March 1.

“This sector is being decimated and is threatening to collapse,” said Irene (no last name given) in the call.

“We have made a dedicated and proven sacrifice to help with the fight against COVID and now it’s time to allow us to resume operations in a safe manner, using our safety protocols that we’ve already established.”

Irene claims the government’s own figures show low numbers of transmission in her industry.

“With only six cases in the entire province with zero non-cohort transmission,” she said.

Kenney says all those involved in making decisions on restrictions are aware of the sacrifices, and in particularly for some sectors. He says jurisdictions have had to restrict dance activities because they can be a “significant vector of transmission.”

Hinshaw warned against thinking that transmission data rates are accurate. She says challenges with contact tracing means numbers are not a true picture of the cases of transmission, and the decision to close dance studios was because of the potential for close proximity, and therefore transmission.

There were numerous calls about gyms, fitness, tennis, professional athletes – even those who need to prepare for the Olympics – yoga studios, casinos and the hospitality industry.

Kenney said, in opening remarks, he believed tourism, hospitality and gyms had been hit the hardest but the government was trying to avoid a “roller coaster” of opening and closing.

He says targets for hospitalization rates being used as a guide for reopening in stages would not be suddenly changed if numbers started increasing. A weekly average of hospitalizations would be used and government would be looking for a trend over two weeks. If there was sudden, exponential growth then the government would reconsider.

One caller said the government’s financial subsidies to help gym owners were not enough to compensate.

Hinshaw says restrictions on gyms had a lot of do with the exertion through exercise being similar to singing and that posed a greater risk for transmission.

Hinshaw does not consider individual exemptions based on protocols to be an option.

She also says a regional approach to restrictions was not acceptable. In the fall a regional approach had shown that people under strict measures simply travelled to areas where there were fewer rules.

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