Alberta Will Be Releasing Its Plan To End 'Damaging' COVID-19 Restrictions Next Week
"We must and will learn to live with COVID-19"
Alberta will be releasing its plan to lift almost all COVID-19 restrictions including the province's vaccine passport system next week.
In a live Facebook address, Premier Jason Kenney described the restrictions as "damaging" and said he shares the frustrations of Albertans whose lives have been disrupted over the past two years.
He added: "After two years of this, we simply cannot continue to rely on the blunt instrument of damaging restrictions as that as a primary tool to cope with a disease that will likely be with us for the rest of our lives. We must find a way to get our lives back to normal."
In its plan, which Kenney says will be announced early next week, the province will start by removing its restrictions exemption program (REP) which requires people to show proof of vaccination to enter some indoor settings such as bars and restaurants.
Regarding other public health measures, a "simple phased plan" to remove almost all of the restrictions will also be announced which could be implemented once the province sees a trend of declining pressure in hospitals.
Kenney said: "With much higher levels of vaccination and much lower levels of preventing infection from vaccines months ago, the rationale for the proof of vaccination programs like Alberta's REP is not as strong today as when we introduced it in September. As COVID changes our response to it must change as well."
In response to people who say that easing restrictions in Alberta is too soon, Kenney said it is "all too risky".
He added: "Between 1918 and 1920, about 50 million people around the world died from the Spanish flu pandemic. Most of the world, including Alberta, you can look it up in the history books, we all put in place public health restrictions very similar to those that we've had in place in our province on and off over the past couple of years.
"But with growing population immunity, and less and less lethal variants, the Spanish Flu eventually became endemic. In fact, viral descendants of this Spanish flu continue to circulate and infect us today. But our ancestors learned to live with it just as we must and will learn to live with COVID-19."