Mayor Chalmers shares information about how today's provincial announcement impacts Chestermere, including a provincial requirement to limit gatherings to a maximum of 15 people.

Transcript: 

Good Evening Chestermere. 

Today, in a live press conference we heard a strong plea to all of Alberta from Premier Kenney and Dr. Hinshaw regarding COVID and the significant increase in cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions we are currently witnessing.  

This was a plea to all, including Chestermerians, to be mindful of our actions, to take collective responsibility, and individual responsibility, to prevent the spread of the virus.  

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to echo their views.  Unless we do better, stronger measures will be taken to stop the spread.  

And these measures may have an economic and psychological impact on our community.  With your help, we can avoid these more stringent measures. 

Today, they announced that there has been an additional 1,411 new active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta over the last two days.

As of November 3, Chestermere had 79 active cases. 

More numbers will be announced on Monday.

Chestermere has now been updated from “watch” to “elevated” status by the Province. 

As such, as of today the Province has placed a 15-person maximum limit on social and family gatherings indoors and outdoors.  

This means no events, gatherings, or socializations can happen with more than 15 people.  

Also, they strongly recommend mask wearing in indoor public places, and all persons can only be in a maximum of 3 cohorts, of 15 people maximum. 

The 15 – person maximum includes private social gatherings, weddings, funerals, dinners, parties or other activities where people are mingling together. 

We ask that you wear a mask when you are out at the grocery store, in the pharmacies, running errands, visiting the rec centre, and any place where people gather. 

Alberta Health Services advises that you also begin wearing a mask at your workplaces, except when you are alone in an office or cubicle where you are safely distanced from others, or an appropriate barrier is in place.

I ask that we all try and remember that it’s our loved ones and those who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19 who we’re protecting when we wear a mask, when we wash our hands, and when we follow other public health measures. 

I will be again discussing with City Council the idea of implementing a temporary mandatory mask bylaw given our enhanced COVID status by the province and the new gathering restrictions.  It isn’t something we wanted to do, but our rates of transmission and our status have never before been higher.

We must act now to help slow the spread of this virus and help to make sure our public health system will not be overwhelmed.

No matter what your opinions are about the virus, we MUST work together to protect each other.   

We can do it, but we must rally together and follow measures to prevent the spread. 

So please remember to keep no less than 2 metres apart from others. Practice good hygiene: wash your hands often and cover coughs and sneezes. And wear a mask, in indoor public and workplace settings.  

If you are sick, STAY HOME, get tested, and follow mandatory isolation requirements while waiting for results.

And now, by Provincial Order, we cannot gather in groups of more than 15.

Let’s make a commitment to look at ways that we can reduce our social contacts as much as possible and make ourselves safer, as a community. 

We also encourage everyone to download and use the AB Trace Together app, which can be used to notify users of potential exposure to COVID-19.

Together, we can limit the spread of this virus in our community. 

Together, we can do it Chestermere. 

Thank you.