COVID-19 Update: 341 new cases, one death | Bowness High classes move online after outbreak | Kids' eligibility for vaccine remains a question
Stay tuned to this page for the latest news on COVID-19 throughout the day
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With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.
What’s happening now
- Experts are working on the questions of if and when children can safely receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Alberta reported 341 new cases of COVID-19, and one new death linked to the virus on Saturday.
- An outbreak of COVID-19 at Bowness High School means students will move to online learning Monday.
- Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw tweeted Friday that there’s been a variant case in an acute care setting for the first time. The Westlock Healthcare Centre has confirmed a case of the U.K. variant which was not acquired in the hospital.
- The approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by federal regulators gives another boost to Alberta’s immunization efforts, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Friday.
- The pastor of Calgary’s Fairview Baptist Church said he will continue to defy COVID-19 restrictions “indefinitely.”
- The province will begin booking vaccinations for Phase 2A of Alberta’s vaccine rollout on March 15. Shandro said adult Albertans will have the chance to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by June 30, provided vaccine deliveries remain on schedule.
- Calgary Public Libraries will reopen on March 10.
- Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Wednesday that Alberta will be extending the period between first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines to four months starting with appointments being booked March 10.
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Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.
Calgary pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccine
This map shows all 48 Calgary pharmacies that are offering the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently the vaccine is open to all Albertans born in the year 1946 or earlier. Appointments are still necessary and can be booked by contacting the participating pharmacies. Details on booking your vaccine jab at a pharmacy can be found here.
Alberta vaccine timelines raise questions on when children could get the jab
All Alberta adults will able to get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced earlier this week, with potential for that timeline to accelerate even further.
But when will those under the age of 18 be able to get the jab?
The answer will depend on results from clinical trials by vaccine producers, according to University of Manitoba virologist Jason Kindrachuk.
“Now we need to figure out whether vaccines are efficacious in kids,” Kindrachuk said. “I think we’re looking at probably within, I would say the next few months, we should have data about what the efficacy looks like in kids. And that’s really the question mark.
341 new cases, one death
Bowness High School students shifting to online learning following COVID-19 outbreak
A COVID-19 outbreak at Bowness High School is forcing students back to online instruction come Monday, according to a letter sent to parents on Friday.
Alberta Health places schools on outbreak status when five or more cases are confirmed.
Classes will move online until March 17 when in-person learning may resume, according to Bowness Principal Jana Macdonald, who said there had been a “a number of cases in a short time frame” at the northwest school.
Swedish police break up coronavirus demonstration in Stockholm
Swedish police on Saturday dispersed hundreds of opponents of coronavirus restrictions who staged a protest in the capital Stockholm in defiance of a ban on large gatherings.
Police blocked a bridge in the centre of the city and said on their website they were in dialog with organizers to persuade demonstrators to disperse.
TV images showed police shoving some protesters. The police said six officers were injured, one of whom was taken to hospital. Fifty people were moved on under a temporary pandemic law.
Paris police clear Seine riverside over lack of social distancing
French police cleared the banks of the River Seine in central Paris on Saturday over concerns people were getting too close together and not respecting coronavirus social distancing rules.
Hundreds of people were asked to leave the area – popular for strolling and picnicking on sunny days – and police officers closed the riverbanks for the rest of the day.
“Social distancing rules are not being respected,” police called out through a megaphone.
The police has regularly been clearing the area over the past few weeks with warmer weather bringing people out to take advantage of the sunshine before a curfew kicks in from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Friday
First case of variant in acute care setting: Hinshaw
Friday
Authority to enforce COVID-19 restrictions renewed for peace officers
A week after losing the authority, peace officers in Alberta are once again allowed to enforce public-health orders relating to COVID-19.
A ministerial order posted online by the province Thursday reinstates the enforcement ability after previously extended permissions expired last week.
Level 1 community peace officers and Level 2 Alberta peace officers will once again be allowed to enforce the orders, though municipalities and peace officers may decide whether they wish to utilize this authority.
Friday
‘We’re going to be there this summer’: Johnson & Johnson approval boosts Alberta vaccines, says Shandro
The approval of a fourth COVID-19 vaccine by federal regulators gives another boost to Alberta’s immunization efforts, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Friday.
Health Canada authorized a single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson Friday morning, adding it to the country’s arsenal of jabs alongside those by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
The newly approved vaccine is safe and effective, Health Canada officials said. The nation has ordered 10 million doses from Johnson & Johnson but has the option to purchase 28 million more. They are expected to begin arriving in April.
At a Friday press conference, Shandro said Alberta had not yet received a schedule for shipments from Ottawa but said he assumed the approval would further accelerate immunization timelines. On Friday, Shandro said all adult Albertans would be offered a first dose of vaccine by June 30.
“This isn’t just a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the other side, and we’re going to be there this summer,” Shandro said.
Friday
Trudeau sticks to September timeline despite new COVID vaccine and new doses
Canada’s COVID fight got help on several fronts Friday with regulators approving a new vaccine and millions of doses now scheduled for earlier deliver, but the government isn’t yet changing its September target to have everyone vaccinated.
Health Canada approved Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate Friday morning following the move of the U.S. FDA last week. Canada is set to receive 10 million doses of the one-shot vaccine, made by the company’s subsidiary, Janssenn, before September, but the government can’t yet confirm a more specific delivery timeline.
Friday
Canadians paid more for beef due to COVID-19, but ranchers didn’t benefit: Report
Canadians paid more for their beef in 2020, but ranchers and feedlot operators didn’t reap the benefits.
That’s the conclusion of a report released this week by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, the first academic tally of the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beef industry, consumers, processors and retailers.
Friday
Alberta teams with private clinics to clear surgeries delayed by COVID-19
Funding in the Alberta government’s 2021 budget will help reduce surgical wait times and eliminate backlog that’s accumulated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic through increased capacity at private clinics, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Friday.
Speaking at Calgary’s Rockyview Surgical Centre, Shandro said the UCP government is committed to providing all scheduled surgeries within “clinically acceptable” wait-times by 2023, through the Alberta Surgical Initiative.
Friday
411 new cases, two deaths
Friday
City pastor vows to defy COVID-19 edicts ‘indefinitely’ despite spectre of detention
A Calgary pastor said more fines and the spectre of imprisonment won’t stop him from holding in-person services that defy COVID-19 restrictions.
Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, who said his flock gathered to worship out of view earlier this year, made the vow even as a court on Friday refused bail to a fellow Alberta pastor of a church west of Edmonton detained for refusing to observe those limitations.
“We have resumed our regular services and will continue them indefinitely . . . we had a full church (last) Sunday and expect attendance to increase each week,” Stephens said in an email.
“We are aware of the potential costs — imprisonment and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines — yet a price cannot be set on loyalty to God.”
Friday
How COVID-19 reshaped Calgary, one year after first case
Dr. Deena Hinshaw walked into the Alberta legislature media room at 5:38 p.m. on March 5, 2020, and stood alone at the lectern. Neither Hinshaw nor any of the reporters present for her impromptu news conference were wearing face masks.
A weighty air hung in the room as Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, announced the province had detected its first presumptive case of COVID-19.
“I want to remind Albertans that despite this case, the risk of catching the virus is still considered low in our province,” she said.
One week later, the province banned all large gatherings, signalling Alberta’s descent into a pandemic that would reshape life over the year to come.
Friday
GraceLife Church pastor James Coates to remain in jail; trial to run May 3-5
GraceLife church Pastor James Coates will remain behind bars ahead of his trial this spring for allegedly breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
Coates, pastor at the Parkland County church, has been jailed in the Edmonton Remand Centre for the past two weeks after continuing to hold worship services without face masks, capacity limits, or physical distancing.
Friday
City cracks down on transit COVID-19 mask violators
City officials have launched a crackdown on Calgary Transit users who refuse to wear COVID-19 protective face masks.
That news comes a day after a bus driver was spat on by a would-be maskless passenger, said the president of the transit operator’s union.
In the past week, peace officers have handed out 36 tickets to masking violators, most of them to those using the transit system – one of the steepest increases in enforcement since a bylaw mandating their use in public indoor areas took effect last Aug. 1.
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