Dr. Hinshaw and Health Minister Shandro provided the COVID-19 update for Tuesday. They both spoke to the Step 2 restriction easement for fitness facilities.

Minister Shandro clarifying, "If you operate a gym, you can be open, that is perfectly within the rules. Before we started Phase 2 we consulted with the fitness sector about how to safely support their industry and they told us they supported us taking an approach similar to that in British Columbia, so that's what we did. That's why we adopted the distinction of high versus low intensity." 

Dr. Hinshaw added BC has been operating with the low-intensity fitness model for several months now and "That their COVID-19 numbers have been relatively stable. With this in mind, we looked for ways to open up facilities for Albertans that would allow for low-intensity activities in gyms. We chose to implement an approach similar to BC. This empowers operators to tailor their programs for clients to calibrate their services for the activities that will improve fitness while minimizing COVID risk."

The COVID-19 numbers update for Tuesday, March 2 were as follows. 

  • There were 257 new cases with a positivity rate of 4.5%.
  • There are currently active alerts in 228 schools accounting for 9% of schools.
  • There are 261 people in the hospital with 54 in ICU.
  • Two more deaths were reported.
  • To date, over 245,000 vaccinations have been administered with over 88,000 Albertans being fully immunized with two doses. 
  • Cochrane added two more active cases for a total of 12. Rocky View County added one case for a total of 20.