Cold Lake and Lac La Biche County under enhanced COVID status

Cold Lake and Lac La Biche County have moved back into watch/enhanced COVID status as of 4 o’clock Friday afternoon.

That means watch/enhanced measures come into effect in the City of Cold Lake and Lac La Biche County today, Saturday, November 14.

The AHS virus data map reports 11 active cases in each community.

The M.D. of Bonnyville, County of St. Paul, and Smoky Lake County are also in the enhanced category.

The City of Cold Lake said services and programs will remain unaffected by these measures, including the operations of the Energy Centre.

Enhanced Mandatory Measures:
• Restaurants, bars, lounges and pubs must stop liquor sales by 10:00 pm and close by 11:00 pm. This applies to Class A, B or C liquor licenses (In affect for watch/enhanced status communities until November 27).
• A 15-person limit on social and family gatherings – indoors and outdoors – where people are mixing and mingling.
• A 50-person limit on indoor and outdoor wedding ceremonies and funeral services (Note that wedding and funeral receptions are considered a “social and family gathering”).

Voluntary Measures:
• Faith-based gatherings limited to 1/3 capacity at one time.
• No social gatherings inside your home or outside of your community. Instead, socialize outdoors or in structured settings, like restaurants or other business that are subject to legal limits and take steps to prevent transmission.
• Limit of 3 cohorts: your core household; your school; and one other sport or social cohort. Young children who attend child care can be part of 4 cohorts.
• Wear a mask in all indoor work settings, except when alone in a workspace or an appropriate barrier is in place.
• Employers in office settings should implement measures to reduce the number of employees in the workplace at one time.

The additional measures announced on November 12 that limit group fitness, group performances, and team sports do not apply to the City of Cold Lake or Lac La Biche County at this time.

These measures are only in effect in metropolitan areas, including Calgary and the surrounding area, Edmonton and the surrounding area, as well as Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, and Red Deer.

Additional information on the new measures can be found here:
www.alberta.ca/enhanced-public-health-measures.aspx

Information on gatherings and cohorts can be found here:
https://www.alberta.ca/restrictions-on-gatherings.aspx.