Additional measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have been mandated by the province of Alberta for Calgary and the surrounding area, including Chestermere.
On Nov. 12, Premier Jason Kenney, and the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced new measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, which included putting a hold on all indoor recreational sports, performances, and fitness programs for the next two weeks, closing
restaurants by 11 p.m. and stopping alcohol service by 10 p.m., and asking all residents to avoid in-home social gatherings.
“These measures are going to impact our businesses, our sports groups, our faith communities, and our local organizations,” said Mayor Marshall Chalmers.
“The hope is that these measures can just be temporary, but that is up to each one of us. If we cannot get this under control, we could be going back to a lockdown, and the provincial measures could be a lot more stringent,” he said.
In addition to the new measures, the province is strongly recommending wearing masks in all indoor public spaces, limiting office personnel to essential workers only, and limiting faith gatherings to one-third of their physical occupancy.
“So, let this be our wake-up call, please for the next two weeks, let’s stop the spread together. Avoid in-home gatherings, stay home when you can, and wear a mask when you cannot,” Chalmers said.
“Finally, I want to say that I have every confidence that we can do this. Earlier this week our local case numbers were at 87, today they are down to 63, and we would like to see that continue,” Chalmers added. “Together, we can do it Chestermere.”
Due to the current enhanced status placed on Chestermere as a result of the recent spike of COVID-19 cases, city council will be revisiting a temporary mandatory mask bylaw on Nov. 17.
