BREAKING: Alberta removes vax passport scheme Tuesday night
Last Update: February 8, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Date: Feb 8, 2022
SOURCE: Western Standard Online
BREAKING: Alberta removes vax passport scheme Tuesday night
“It’s time to let kids be kids,” Kenney told reporters
Starting Wednesday morning Alberta will no longer have to show vaccine passports to enter businesses, pubs and venues.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement Tuesday night as he outlined the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions across the board.
As of Monday, masking requirements end for youth 12 and under, and there are no masking requirements in K-12 schools
“It’s time to let kids be kids,” Kenney told reporters
Stage 2 of the government’s reopening plan takes place on March 1.
On that date indoor masking mandates will be dropped, youth screening for sports will no longer be required, sporting venues will be allowed to return to full capacity, limits on indoor gatherings will be lifted and the mandatory work from home order will be removed.
“It’s time to learn to live with COVID-19,” said Kenney.
Kenney said Stage 3 will take place at an unknown date.
That will see COVID-19 protocols at hospitals dropped.
But United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith said she believed the lifting of restrictions is, “way too premature.”
“It’s not evidence-based and it’s irresponsible and reckless,” said Smith on the UNA’s Facebook page.
At the onset of the pandemic, Alberta declared a state of emergency in March 2020 and followed with months of varying restrictions through most of 2020. Although Kenney announced in late November 2020 no further lockdowns were planned, less than two weeks later, the province was put into another lockdown with tightening restrictions through December and most of January 2021.
Again, with varying restrictions through the spring of 2021, Kenney’s government went back and forth with plans to lift restrictions.
Mid-June, Kenny announced Alberta would be “Open for Summer” and said nearly all remaining public health orders would be lifted by July 1.
Throughout the summer, Kenney was quoted saying the province was “open for good” at a Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast and the province later announced a relax on COVID-19 testing and self-isolation requirements.
Mid-September, Kenney returned the province to a state of emergency and, after many promises not to, he said Alberta would soon move to a vaccine passport system.
With growing cases due to the highly infectious Omicron variant, Kenney brought in further restrictions ahead of the Christmas break and students were given an additional week off in the new year allowing for teachers and school administrators to devise a “plan for students to return safely to learning.”
Throughout January 2022, and amid record COVID-19 case counts and rising hospitalizations, Kenney confirmed his government would not follow other provinces in exploring making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory in Alberta or imposing a tax on the unvaccinated.
External link to source story: BREAKING: Alberta removes vax passport scheme Tuesday night – The Western Standard (westernstandardonline.com)