Special Lodge Bulletin
May 17, 2021
This bulletin is meant to clarify the new rules around Public Health Order 16-2021, specifically with regard to the survey results about indoor social visitors.
The majority of the residents of both lodges have chosen NOT TO ALLOW INDOOR SOCIAL VISITORS at this time. Order 16-2021 requires 51% or more of lodge residents to vote for such visitation for it to be allowed: at Cascade House only 43% voted for it, while at Bow River Lodge only 39% did so. We will review the residents’ wishes in a future survey.
Please note that residents can have essential social visits with their Designated Family/Support People – but these must be prearranged with our admin team beforehand.
While we are not out of the woods yet, we are getting closer. Most of our lodge residents are much safer now that they have achieved peak immunity, but there are some residents who have not received the vaccine.
Please read this bulletin, discuss it with those closest to you and feel free to ask questions. Alberta remains under a state of public health emergency and aggressive action is still required to protect you and our healthcare system. Fortunately, the current wave is starting to fall and while case numbers are high, hospitalization and death rates are falling. The vaccines are having amazing impacts! Still, we must be careful until many more Albertans have been fully immunized. I recognize and appreciate the helpful efforts that most of you have and will continue to make to protect yourselves and others, despite the great challenges of these times.
The current situation in terms of case numbers is serious but we are down from the all-time high numbers as vaccines and public health measures turn the tide. There are more than 22,000 active cases in the province, with nearly 140 in the BVRH region. The restrictions that are currently in place will not be lifted until some time in June at the earliest; they are necessary to slow cases, hospitalizations, and deaths while the vaccines are distributed. So far more than 2.2 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the province, and more than 330,000 Albertans have been fully immunized.
We are obviously all still very tired of Covid-19, and yet we still must stay the course and work together for the common good. The core requirements detailed in the March bulletin remain in effect, including:
• Stay in your suite if you feel at all unwell except to seek medical assistance.
• Wash and or sanitize your hands often.
• PLEASE wear a mask/covering when you are not in your suite, except when you are actively eating, drinking, or exercising.
• Put on a mask before opening your door and when you have others into your suite.
• Stay apart from others, avoid sick people and crowded places.
• Have the things that you need delivered as much as possible.
• Please connect socially with others via phone or internet as much as possible.
• Do not leave the lodge property except for essential outings – you decide what is essential. When you return from being off-site you will be screened at the door, including an assessment of your risk of unknown exposure and certain restrictions may apply in the rare event that you are deemed at high risk.
• No indoor social gatherings in any setting in Alberta, but in lodges limit close contacts to 2 other lodge residents. This means you can have one or two close contacts from inside of the lodge into your suite for visits, but it must be the same one or two people until the state of emergency is lifted. You should be masked when visiting with others.
• Under the public health orders, you can have your designated family/support people in for essential visits and again, you decide what is essential.
• Mandatory masks for indoor workplaces and public spaces across the province.
• Avoid non-essential travel to other communities.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Ian
