Minister of Economic Development, Tanya Fir announced new supports available for business owners in the province as they prepare for relaunch on May 14th. Business owners can now access Alberta Biz Connect, a website that will provide safety guidelines and advice for the relaunch of business this week. 

“This new business-specific webpage will help businesses learn more about the public health measures they need to have in place before reopening. Measures will help keep their customers and staff safer while operating during a pandemic,” said Fir. 

The website gives sector-specific information to provide a road map on the best practices of safety as they begin to reopen. 

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw noted that some Albertans are feeling hesitant about reopening the economy. 

“While the final decision on entering stage one has not been made, I want to talk about why we can consider relaunch at this time. First, the outbreaks I mentioned represent pockets of the infection that we must deal with. However, much of the province has been successful at flattening the curve.  Hospitalizations and ICU admissions are down. Recovered case numbers are up, I am encouraged to see fewer daily new cases than even one week ago,” said Dr. Hinshaw. 

Since the initial outbreak, the doctor noted societal changes will make it easier to control the virus. 

“Our societal norms around hygiene and physical distancing are different today. We are in the habit of washing our hands thoroughly and often whenever we unpack our groceries, handle goods delivered to our home, or come home from any location we wash our hands for at least 20 seconds in warm soapy water. We also maintain physical distance. We well are aware of what two metres looks like and are accustomed to keeping this distance between on another,” said Dr. Hinshaw. 

Additionally, testing and knowledge of the virus has greatly increased since the beginning of the pandemic. As relaunch begins, testing will increase in areas that have the most outbreaks to help maintain the spread of the virus. 

May 11th new case numbers:

  • 47 new cases of the virus
  • 73 people are hospitalized with COVID-19
  • 12 people who have been admitted to ICU’s with COVID-19
  • 1,524 active cases in Alberta
  • 4,659 total recovered cases
  • 2 new deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours
  • 117 total deaths from the virus
  • 2,864 tests completed in the last 24 hours 
  • 188, 157 tests have been performed in total

Central Alberta shows the following case numbers, available at alberta.ca.

  • City of Lacombe: 2 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 2 recovered
  • Lacombe County: 3 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 3 recovered
  • Ponoka County: 3 total cases
    • 1 active
    • 2 recovered
  • County of Wetaskiwin: 0 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 0 recovered
  • City of Wetaskiwin: 8 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 8 recovered
  • Red Deer County: 16 total cases
    • 5 active
    • 11 recovered 
  • City of Red Deer: 37 total cases 
    • 3 active
    • 34 recovered 
  • County of Stettler: 3 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 3 recovered
  • Mountain View County: 7 total cases
    • 2 active
    • 5 recovered
  • Town of Sylvan Lake
    • 3 cases
    • 3 active