Alberta's isolation period for COVID-19 cases drops from 10 days to five today
CBC
Effective today, people in Alberta with at least two doses of vaccine who test positive for COVID-19 will only need to isolate for five days instead of 10.
Health Minister Jason Copping announced the change last week in the face of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, saying it was based on evidence that fully immunized people have shorter infectious periods.
Symptoms must be fully resolved by the end of the five-day period, otherwise people must continue to isolate.
For five days after isolation, those people will be required to wear a mask around others at all times when in public.
The decision was based on evidence that fully immunized people have shorter infectious periods, Copping said.
"We're making these changes to help prevent disruptions in Alberta's workforce, especially for those who deliver the services Albertans count on," Copping said at a news conference Friday.
"We believe this step will help balance the need for continuity in the workforce, the well-being of Albertans and our need to continue to reduce the spread of the Omicron variant."
Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and British Columbia have also reduced the self-isolation period to five days.
Alberta is also introducing an exemption for certain workplaces to bring workers back before their isolation period is complete.
Copping said if a disruption of service for 24 hours or more would be harmful to the public and there is no way to continue without reinstating staff, then a workplace could be deemed eligible.
"In these exceptional circumstances, additional health public health measures will be required," Copping said.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange also announced last week that in-person classes for kindergarten to Grade 12 students would be delayed until Jan. 10.
She said the longer break would allow school authorities to plan for a successful startup.
Reporting of COVID-19 cases, both active and new, in addition to other data, will resume Tuesday. That day, a breakdown of numbers from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 is to be released.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Newfoundland and Labrador is about four months out from what will likely become election season in the province — and a St. John's non-profit group thinks there will likely be some big changes at the local level.
Sault College president says its getting harder to maintain 'core programs' with financial pressures
Another post-secondary institution in northeastern Ontario is struggling to operate as it is squeezed by dropping international enrolment and a longstanding tuition freeze.
Councillors in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have called for a full review of volunteer and career fire services over concerns about the number of departments and the cost of staffing and equipping them.
A New Brunswick RCMP officer testifying at a drug trafficking trial this week was questioned by the defence about theft charges he himself faces in an unrelated case.
At precisely noon, the casket welders, sanders and paint sprayers are turned off and a quiet hum settles over the Magog Caskets factory floor in southeastern Quebec.
Edgar Spence keeps a folded bundle of receipts for meal expenses his family has had to cover out-of-pocket since they were forced out of their home community by wildfires in northern Manitoba.
A man accused in a series of north-central Edmonton arsons is guilty of starting fires that damaged or destroyed several homes in 2020 and 2021, a judge ruled Thursday.
Residents of Ward 8 in Hamilton are likely to be back at the polls once again after city councillors voted Wednesday to hold a byelection there to replace former councillor John-Paul Danko, who was recently elected as a member of parliament.
Work on Windsor's large Banwell Road interchange and corridor construction projects is currently on hold after Butler's gartersnakes were discovered.
Etched on a poster board the size of her body, Mary McPherson held up a pencil-drawn portrait of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
One of the largest old elm trees in Toronto — possibly in all of southern Ontario — is on its last legs.
It's graduation week for many University of Guelph students, but it's a particularly special day for one 68-year-old whose walk across the convocation stage was 49 years in the making.