At the April 15th Government of Alberta COVID-19 update, Premier Jason Kenney announced 53 million dollars would be going towards mental health supports for Albertans as they navigate the pandemic. 

“With this funding, we are launching a comprehensive mental health and addictions COVID-19 response plan. This is by far the largest investment in mental health support for people coping with the pandemic in Canada.”

$21.5 million will go towards providing phone and online supports. $2.6 million will go towards expanding individual and group treatment. $4.2 million will go towards addictions and mental health treatments. $25 million will enhance community mental health and addictions recovery. 

The provincial government anticipates higher rates of both substance and domestic abuse during the pandemic. The need for this funding was gauged by a public survey that indicates 74 per cent of Albertans feel that they’re mental health has been impacted by the pandemic. 

Additionally, the Premier addressed restrictions on off-highway vehicles as an effort to reduce forest fires. The province is doing everything they can to reduce the number of wildfires this spring and summer because additional aid cannot be flown in if due to travel restrictions. Some firefighters may be under quarantine or in isolation if they experience flu-like symptoms. For those who are fighting off the coronavirus, deterioration of air quality is also not ideal. 

Premier Kenney announced 126 new cases of coronavirus noting lower rates of cases in hospitals and intensive care units. 

“The most encouraging news in Alberta is our relatively low rate of hospital and ICU admissions. Today, 44 Albertans are being treated for illness in COVID-19 hospitals and ten in intensive care units. Those numbers have been stable for several days, in fact, the ICU number is down slightly and they continue to be well below the number projected in AHS’s modeling represented a week ago,” said Kenney. 

There is currently a surface disruption impacting the province’s data regarding COVID-19 cases reducing the amount of data the province was able to share at the time of the announcement. Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw anticipates that complete data will be able to be shared on the April 16th update. 

The doctor also announced a new outbreak at the Kearl Lake oil sand facility north of Fort McMurray. Three people at the work camp have tested positive for COVID-19 and six more were tested and are now isolating. 

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

  • City of Lacombe: 2 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 2 recovered
  •  Lacombe County: 4 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 4 recovered
  • Ponoka County: 1 total cases 
    • 0 active
    • 1 recovered 
  • County of Wetaskiwin: 0 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 0 recovered
  • City of Wetaskiwin: 7 total cases
    • 0 active
    • 7 recovered
  • Red Deer County: 12 total cases 
    • 4 active
    • 8 recovered 
  • City of Red Deer: 32 total cases 
    • 11 active
    • 21 recovered 
  • County of Stettler: 3 total cases
    • 2 active
    • 1 recovered 
  • Mountain View County: 5 total cases
    • 2 active
    • 3 recovered

Other data about the COVID-19 case counts are as follows: 

  • There are 1,996 total confirmed cases
  • 2, 853 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the last 24 hours (As of the announcement on April 15th)