The government of Alberta announced new health restrictions Tuesday evening to try and curb the spread of COVID-19. Officials say our province has the highest rates per capita of cases in the country right now. Government officials say there are currently 671 Albertans in hospital battling the virus including 150 in intensive care. Beginning Friday, all students Kindergarten thru Grade 12 will move to at home learning until May 25th, after the long weekend. All post secondary schools must be online. Workplaces with COVID-19 outbreaks must close. Retail stores will move to 10 percent capacity or 5 customers. Outdoor social gatherings will go from 10 to just 5 people. Places of worship will be limited to 10 percent. Funerals will drop from 20 to just 10 people.

Beginning May 10 (for at least three weeks), personal services including hair, nail, tanning salons and tattoo parlours will close. Restaurants will move to takeout and delivery only. Adult and youth performances will close and health care professionals including doctors and dentists will be by appointment only.

Kenney says these latest restrictions will stay in effect for the next three weeks. He also says the province will be doubling the fine for those caught breaking the public health orders from $1,000 to $2,000 dollars.

Jeannette Rocher

Born in Puerto Rico, raised in Minnesota and Manitoba, Jeannette has had the opportunity to live in a variety of places including New York, Arizona, and Nevada. After completing college and a paid internship with CBC Winnipeg, Jeannette embarked on her journalism career by moving overseas to take a job on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. While overseas she covered stories in Fiji, Guam and Japan including the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan and its surrounding islands. She covered a mass shooting, an Earth quake, murder cases and other substantial court cases. In 2013 she moved to Alberta where she covered the devastating floods of High River and Medicine Hat for CTV News. She then went on to produce and host Go! Southern Alberta for Shaw TV. She now calls Miracle Channel home. In addition to reporting in the field, you can catch her anchoring daily weather reports, as well as longer interview segments on BCN, and the week-in-review show on BCN Weekends. 

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