Alberta changes isolation rules for fully vaccinated individuals

Alberta is changing the isolation rules for those who are fully vaccinated and without symptoms, dropping the mandated period from 10 days down to five. 

Health Minister Jason Copping and the province’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw made the announcement on Friday. 

Those who isolate must wear a mask when outside their home and in the presence of others for five days afer the five day isolation period. 

• Infographics: COVID-19 in Alberta by the numbers
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Should COVID-19 symptoms persist after five days, isolation will be required until they subside. 

“We feel this is prudent given the evidence that shows that fully immunized people have shorter infectious periods,” said Copping. 

The change takes effect on Monday and reflects similar moves in Ontario and by the Center for Disease Control in the United States. 

“We’re making these changes to help prevent disruptions in Alberta’s workforce, especially for those who deliver the services Albertans count on.” 

The change does not apply to those who have not had two doses of vaccine.

Dr. Hinshaw and Copping said some essential workers would be able to return sooner than the five days if service delivery would be affected for more than a 24-hour period. 

"There will be very specific rules laid out for additional precautions and what kinds of criteria that those business will have to meet," Dr. Hinshaw said, adding more details would be made available on Monday. 

She said the exception would apply only to positions where "disruption could again significantly impair public health or safety," but also that exceptions are less likely to be needed given the shortened five-day isolation period and would require further public health measures. 

Opposition health critic David Shepherd said the change to isolation rules won't have a substantial impact. 

"Reducing isolation times for those with symptoms is not a solution to widespread staffing issues in schools and hospitals," he said in a release. 

"What we see today is not even remotely close to the leadership we need right now."

'COVID doesn’t care about our celebrations'

While there was no data update on Friday, Dr. Hinshaw said that the number of known active cases has grown to about 21,000. 

That would represent an increase of about 4,000 since Wednesday and put the current active case count in the top 25 highest counts to date. 

She stressed that the number represents only known active cases, with the true count likely several times higher as only some infected people get tested.  

The province has broken its new daily case count record three times in the past week alone, as cases of the Omicron variant surge. 

She warned that while some evidence from other countries indicates Omicron is less likely to produce severe outcomes, the sheer number of cases means severe outcomes could still rise. 

“With more people being infected and in a very short time, that poses a significant potential threat to our health care system,” Dr. Hinshaw said.

She also reiterated the importance of Albertans limiting their contacts over the long weekend. 

“COVID doesn’t care about our celebrations and it doesn’t care that we miss getting together with family and friends,” she said. 

The province provided a full data update only once over the holidays, on Wednesday. Partial data was provided on Tuesday and Thursday. 

The next full data update is scheduled for Jan. 4.

OTHER COVID-19 RELATED NEWS 

Hinshaw was originally slated to speak Thursday, but the news conference was rescheduled so she could take part in a cabinet meeting. 

Following the cabinet meeting, Education Minister Adrianna LaGrange announced the school winter break would be extended to Jan. 10 because of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. 

The high rate of spread seen in Alberta recently has left some businesses without the employees needed to to stay open or offer full service. 

Also on Thursday, Slovakia's goaltender at the world junior hockey championship called the 2022 tournament “a joke,” and criticized the International Ice Hockey Federation's organization of it. The tournament, hosted in Red Deer and Edmonton in Alberta, was cancelled Wednesday when three more games needed to be forfeited because of confirmed cases. According to the IIHF, all 10 participating teams returned positive tests in at least one player in either the days before the tournament or during the event itself.