The province is rolling out plans it hopes will slow the spread of COVID in schools.

Premier Jason Kenney says the number of cases in children between five and eleven years of age continues to increase, especially where there are low vaccination rates.

"We'll ramp up rapid testing, initiate contact notifications, and increase the public reporting that many families rely on," he says.

"We'll also be strongly encouraging schools to implement mandatory proof of vaccination policies for adult staff and visitors."

Education minister Adrianna LaGrange says school authorities will support an interim process for contact tracing beginning Oct. 12 after the long weekend.

"Over the long term, and by mid-November, AHS will take over notifying parents of contacts within school settings," she says.

"School authorities will help this AHS team to identify close contacts and will focus on school-based exposures only, such as identifying classroom contacts and identifying close contacts in school sports or extracurricular activities."

Starting Oct. 6, Alberta Health will start reporting the name of each school with at least two COVID cases.

Also starting Oct. 6, Albertans age 75 and older and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people age 65 and older can begin booking their third dose at least six months after their second dose.

Premier Kenney is asking Albertans to follow the rules already in place for a safe Thanksgiving including no indoor gatherings if unvaccinated and limiting gatherings to two households if participants are vaccinated.

Outdoor gathering limits are being reduced from 200 to 20 people.

There are 1,094 people in hospital in Alberta with COVID-19 with 252 of those in intensive care units.

Also, 26 more people have died of the infection.

Premier Kenney says eight people were admitted to ICU in the last day and none were vaccinated.

Individuals are not considered vaccinated until more than 14 days after their shot.

Locally there are now 159 cases in Okotoks, 88 in High River, and 93 each in Foothills County and Willow Creek MD.

 

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