CALGARY -- Alberta is expected to stay the course in terms of easing pandemic-related restrictions as case numbers of COVID-19 continue to be low but, as the number of variant B117 cases track upward, there is no confirmed threshold for what would influence reopening plans.
As of Tuesday, there are a total of 221 variant cases in Alberta. A majority of the cases are of the strain first identified in the United Kingdom, while seven are of a strain discovered in South Africa.
In Ontario, the rise of variants could potentially delay reopening plans. Public health experts in that province say reopening will be delayed if 10 per cent of new cases are of variant strains.
The current percentage of Ontario's variant cases amongst new cases sits at seven per cent.
Variants represent approximately 0.5 per cent of new cases in Alberta.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, has not committed to a percentage threshold to signal a rollback of reopening plans.
During Tuesday's briefing, Hinshaw said there has been an average of 12 new variant cases per day in the province.
Of the cases being monitored, transmission is split between being travel-related and community spread.
"Roughly half of the cases we have our travel or close contact of a traveler and then roughly half are those who are either community where we don't know the source or someone who is a close contact."
Dr. Hinshaw says the variant cases are being closely monitored. Alberta Health Services investigations are turning up additional cases and double testing has been implemented for all close contacts.
"We have implemented those interventions where we've seen the risks to be highest, and now we're considering whether or not there may be additional pieces to further reduce risk of transmission."
There are now at least 600 variant cases in ten Canadian provinces, four of which have seen community spread.
The variant is considered more contagious and more dangerous, as exemplified in the east coast. On Monday, Newfoundland and Labrador confirmed 298 active cases are tied to the variant first found in the U.K.
