As of Monday, October 25, Albertans must now have full vaccination in order to access businesses, venues, or services partaking in the Restrictions Exemption Program. 

As Dr. Hinshaw explains, "This means you’ll need to have received your second dose at least 14 days before you enter the facility, and you need to present valid proof of vaccination at the time of service. There was a transition period when one dose was accepted. This was done to give Albertans the opportunity to get both doses before requirements changed. Those who are not fully vaccinated can still choose to provide a privately paid negative COVID-19 test from within the previous 72 hours or valid proof of a medical exemption."

Dr. Hinshaw encourages everyone who has only one shot to get their second shot as soon as possible. "The data shows that two doses are much more effective at protecting you from COVID-19 and in particular, from the Delta variant."

The COVID-19 numbers for Tuesday, October, 26 saw 442 new COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 6 per cent. 

Hospitalizations rose slightly by 15 to a total of 836. 

ICU admissions increased by one to 183.

Sadly, another 12 deaths have been reported for a total in the province of 3,063. 

There are 242 schools with current active alerts or outbreaks in the province.

The Cochrane school outbreak status remains with Cochrane Christian Academy and Elizabeth Barrett Elementary School are on alert with 5-9 cases and Manachaban Middle School is on alert with 2-4 cases.

Cochrane has 83 active cases and Rocky View County has considerably fewer with 68 active cases.

When asked if Alberta had successfully maneuvered the Thanksgiving weekend Hinshaw replied, "It's still really important to keep vigilant. To celebrate that we haven't seen a significant bump so far but ultimately we know there is still a lot of COVID out there and we do need to maintain caution still."

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