COVID-19 Omicron: Alberta eases gathering rules despite dangerous rise of variant

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced Wednesday that gathering rules in the province will be eased ahead of the holidays, for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, as the Omicron variant spreads.

Effectively immediately, the two household limit on private, indoor social gatherings has been lifted, now allowing for up to 10 people to gather (not including youth 17 and younger), regardless of vaccination status.

Kenney said that now that 90 per cent of Alberta's adults have some level of vaccine protection, it is "no longer necessary" to keep indoor social gathering restrictions for unvaccinated people.

"Isolation of a whole lot more people for the second straight Christmas, unable to have any contact with family, I think could have a devastating impact on the mental and emotional wellbeing of many people," the premier said.

"If there is one small thing we can do that takes a way another reason for division, about families arguing about having the unvaccinated aunt over for Christmas dinner, for example, if we can instead put that decision back to individual families, how they can be COVID careful,...we think it’s appropriate at this time."

Free rapid tests available for all Albertans

The Alberta government is encouraging individuals hosting a holiday gathering to take advantage of the province's expanded rapid testing strategy.

Beginning Dec. 17, any Albertan can go to select Alberta Health Service sites and select pharmacies to get a free rapid antigen test kit. There are more than 500,000 kits available at 140 sites across Alberta.

Each kit has five test, with detailed instructions for use. They can be picked up every 14 days and an individuals can send someone else to pick up a kit for them, should they have their health care number.

The intended use is for those without COVID-19 symptoms, anyone who symptomatic should get a PCR test. If a rapid test results is positive, that individual needs follow that results with a PCR test. The guidance is to take a rapid test twice a week, 72 hours apart.

Any Kindergaten to Grade 6 school on alert status, which means there have been at least two COVID-19 cases that attended school while infectious, in the previous 14 days, will have access to rapid tests as well.

This expanding rapid testing strategy is in response to concerns around the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

"What is known is how quickly and easily [Omicron] can spread," Kenney said. "Early evidence suggests that Omicron is significantly more transmissible than the Delta variant, which was perviously the most contagious version of COVID-19."

"If we get extremely widespread population transmission all at the same time, even if a very small percentage of people experience severe symptoms and require, for example, intensive care, that could potentially challenge the capacity of our healthcare system. So we need to be prudent and cautious as we wait for more data to emerge about the nature of Omicron."

Omicron transmission could be 'worse than previous waves'

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, stressed that the COVID-19 situation with Omicron spreading could be worse than we've seen before.

"We face a very real risk of experiencing a significant fifth wave with this new variant that could be worse than previous waves in terms of overall impact on our health system, due to sheer volume of cases," Dr. Hinshaw said.

"No one wants to maintain restrictions for longer than absolutely necessary but it is also true that no one wants to see our healthcare system under the strain it experienced just a few months ago, or worse."

Looking at the holidays, Alberta's chief medical officer of health said people in the province need to make considerations around gatherings based on their community and the healthcare system.

"Tempting as it may be to make an exception and break the rules, the risk of transmission is just too great, particularly severe outcomes for those who aren’t fully vaccinated," Dr. Hinshaw said.

"We can make our holiday gatherings as safe as possible by limiting the total number of gatherings we attend or host, keeping gatherings small, planning gatherings that can happen outside and encouraging as many people as possible at the gathering to have received all doses of vaccine they are eligible for."