As Alberta continues to allow more non-essential businesses to reopen as part of its COVID-19 Recovery Plan, it’s important to stay in the know on how your organization is affected and what guidelines you should follow to remain legally compliant.
THE THREE-STAGE RECOVER PLAN
Alberta’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan is composed of three stages:
- Stage 1 focused on reopening some businesses and services while continuing to protect Albertans.
- Stage 2 focuses on reopening more businesses while keeping protections in place, as well as relaxing some public gathering restrictions.
- Stage 3 will consist of opening all workplaces and relaxing public gathering restrictions.
STAGE 1 (May 14 – June 11, 2020)
Lifted Restrictions:
- Retail businesses like clothing, furniture and book stores
- All farmers’ market vendors
- Hairstyling and barber shops
- Cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars for table service at 50 per cent capacity
- Some scheduled non-urgent surgeries, gradually
- Museums and art galleries
- Daycares and out-of-school care, with occupancy limits
- Day camps, including summer school, with occupancy limits
- Post-secondary institutions for course delivery, with flexibility for in-person delivery once the existing public health order prohibiting in-person classes is lifted
- Places of worship and funeral services, if they follow sector-specific guidance
- Dog parks and playgrounds, unless restricted by municipal authorities
STAGE 2 (begins june 12)
What Can Open With Restrictions:
- K-12 schools, for requested diploma exams and summer school, following guidance
- Libraries
- More surgeries
- Wellness services such as massage, acupuncture and reflexology
- Personal services (e.g., esthetics, cosmetics, skin and body treatments, manicures, pedicures, waxing, facial treatments and artificial tanning)
- Movie theatres and theatres
- Community halls
- Team sports
- Indoor recreation, fitness and sports, including gyms and arenas
- Pools for leisure swimming
- VLTs in restaurants and bars
- Bingo halls and casinos (but not table games)
- Instrumental concerts
- Provincial campgrounds at full capacity
Events and gatherings that can be larger in Stage 2:
- 50 people maximum: indoor social gatherings, including wedding and funeral receptions, and birthday parties
- 100 people maximum: outdoor events and indoor seated/audience events, including wedding and funeral ceremonies
- No cap on the number of people (with public health measures in place):
- Worship gatherings
- Restaurant, cafes, lounges and bars
- Casinos
- Bingo halls
- More flexibility for ‘cohort’ groups: small groups of people whose members do not always keep 2 metres apart:
- A household can increase its close interactions with other households to a maximum of 15 people.
- Performers can have a cohort of up to 50 people (cast members or performers).
- Sports teams can play in region-only cohorts of up to 50 players (mini-leagues).
- People could be part of a sports/performing and household cohort.
STAGE 3 (date to be determined)
Lifted Restrictions:
- Fully reopening all businesses and services, with some restrictions
- Larger gatherings permitted (number of people to be determined)
- Arts and culture festivals, vocal concerts and major sporting events, with restrictions
- Nightclubs, with restrictions
- Industry conferences, with restrictions
- No restrictions on non-essential travel
The Stage 3 start date will be based on the success of Stage 2. Factors include active cases, health-care system capacity, hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) cases, and infection rates. Some restrictions and enhanced protection controls will remain in place, such as physical distancing.
Guidelines for non-essential businesses
Personal hygiene, social distancing and requiring sick individuals to remain home are still required at every stage of the Recovery Plan. Where possible, non-essential businesses that reopen should still limit person-to-person contact, such as by limiting in-person meetings to only absolutely mandatory individuals, separating desks and other workspaces by 2 metres and only allowing one person per 5 square metres of open retail space.
Specific requirements and dates are subject to change at any time. Alberta’s official guidance for retail spaces can be accessed here for more information.