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Banff has no COVID-19 cases for first time in nine months

“We need to celebrate small victories. There’s been a lot of sacrifices made to get here, so we have to honour that," said Heather Jordan, who rang the church bells to celebrate Banff having no COVID cases for the first time since Oct. 1, 2020
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Tourists walk along the pedestrianized Banff Avenue on Saturday (June 12). EVAN BUHLER RMO PHOTO

BANFF – The now famous bells of Banff rang out across the community on the weekend to celebrate Banff recording no active COVID-19 cases for the first time since Oct. 1, 2020.

Heather Jordan, who began playing the church bells at St. George’s-In-The-Pines at the start of the pandemic and throughout last summer to inspire hope, rang the bells on Sunday (June 20) as a celebration and thank-you to residents.

“We need to celebrate small victories,” said Jordan, a local musician, singer-songwriter and music teacher.

“There’s been a lot of sacrifices made to get here, so we have to honour that.”

Alberta Health Services reported zero active cases for Banff and Lake Louise on Saturday (June 19) and Sunday (June 20). In neighbouring Canmore, there is just one active COVID-19 case.

Banff National Park was the No. 1 COVID-19 hotspot in Alberta towards the end of April, peaking at 164 active cases on April 25 with a per capita case rate of more than 1,200 per 100,000 people.

Silvio Adamo, the director of emergency management for the Town of Banff, said this is the first time Banff has had no active cases since Oct. 1, 2020.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic about that, but we’re not kidding ourselves here; I think it's a given we could see cases continue to go up and down within our region and within the province,” he said.

“The goal is to keep those cases as low as possible and provide support and isolation as quickly as possible – just like the tactics we used, which were very effective, when we were seeing our larger wave come in.”

The big push for the Town of Banff right now is encouraging everyone to get fully vaccinated, particularly considering provincial health officials indicate a first dose is only about 33 per cent effective against the more contagious delta variant, which was first identified in India.

Based on an estimated population of 9,500 people in Banff and Lake Louise, the municipality estimates about 93 per cent of people have had their first dose and 20 per cent have had both doses.

While provincial health data typically runs two days behind actual vaccination numbers, the most updated information on the AHS website shows 8,163 people in Banff and Lake Louise have had their first vaccine dose and 1,769 people are fully immunized.

“I want to thank all of our residents for stepping up and getting immunized because if we don’t have that high percentage, then we know we’re vulnerable,” Adamo said.

“We’ve got a significant amount of first dose folks in our geo-region so now the push is to get those second shots in arm and then we can all get back to more normal lives.”

Alberta Health Services has set up additional vaccination clinics at the Fenlands recreation centre on July 5 and 6.

Adamo said he believes those clinics are full, but reminded residents to continue checking AHS’s website as cancellations do come up.

“We’re in constant contact with the doctors’ offices and pharmacies in the community and we are still receiving supply on mRNA vaccines,” he said.

“There’s lots of opportunity for our residents to be able to get vaccinated locally and, if necessary, they can still travel into the city to get vaccinated at some of the larger sites.”

Meanwhile, Banff council will be discussing whether to keep or lift the municipality’s mask mandates at its June 28 meeting.

Banff has its own outdoor mask bylaw in the downtown core and along Banff Avenue into the hotel district, as well as an indoor mask bylaw that was trumped by the provincial mask mandate. The province will scrap it mask mandate on July 1.

The cities of Calgary and Edmonton have indicated they may not lift their indoor mask bylaws on the province’s timetable until at least 70 percent of the population has had two doses of the vaccine based on advice from health physicians.

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