EDMONTON — Newly loosened restrictions around international travel may have been welcome news to many Albertans, but as CTV News Edmonton learned on Monday, they also left some things to be desired for some families looking for an out-of-country vacation.

On July 5, fully vaccinated travellers who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or certain foreign nationals will be able to return to the country without the burden of a 14-day quarantine.

New guidance from the Government of Canada, announced on Monday, also allows eligible travellers to avoid taking a COVID-19 test eight days after their return, or isolating in a hotel upon arrival to the country.

TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN

Currently there is no COVID-19 vaccine approved for kids under the age of 12 in Canada, meaning children younger than 12 years old would be subject to a 14-day isolation period upon their return to the country.

Unvaccinated children would not have to stay in a hotel, but would have to follow current COVID-19 testing requirements.

For those reasons, one Sturgeon County man chose to book a September trip to New York City with his wife, but not their kids.

Sean Gilfillan told CTV News Edmonton when he heard the news about Canada’s loosened travel restrictions on Monday morning he immediately went online to book their flights.

“We would have 100 per cent probably booked something like Mexico, California, Disneyland, something like that, if we were confident that we could get the kids over and back without isolating,” said Gilfillan.  

“When’s the government going to address the fact that I can’t take my five and six-year-old across the border and come back without them needing to isolate?” he added.

On Monday, Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu seemed to anticipate the frustration.

“Undoubtedly this will be challenging for families who want to travel,” said Hajdu.

‘I UNDERSTAND THE RESTRICTIONS, IT’S JUST DISAPPOINTING’

Mark Kay and his wife took a different approach from Gilfillan when they booked a flight to California for January.

The St. Albert couple is hoping to include their kids on the trip, and have paid for them to join. They say they’re prepared to cancel if circumstances around post-travel isolation don’t change.

“I understand the restrictions, it’s just disappointing,” Kay told CTV News Edmonton. “How do you sit a five and a 10-year-old inside and say, ‘You have to stay in here for eight more days because we went to San Diego?’”

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

One requirement, when returning to Canada, that will remain in place after July 5 is pre-departure and on-arrival molecular testing for COVID-19, even for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers. 

The on-arrival tests which must be less than 72 hours old upon are readily available in places like California, but according to one travel insurance company that CTV News Edmonton spoke to, they aren’t free for Canadian vacationers. 

One COVID-19 test can be purchased in that state, in most big name pharmacies, and costs about $175 CAD.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to get a test to return home,” City of Anaheim spokesperson Lauren Gold told CTV News Edmonton.

As for tests for returns from New York, Gilfillan said he’s still looking into that.

“Researching that this morning, before we booked our flights,” he said. “It wasn’t clear to me where we’re going to be able to book that test.”

The New York couples trip, Gilfillan said, will be a much needed boost to he and his wife’s mental health, and he’s confident they’ll be able to work out those details by the time they need to.

All international commercial flights will continue to be funneled through the Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Calgary International Airport and Vancouver International Airport.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dan Grummett

EDMONTON — The Black Dog Freehouse Bar on Whyte Avenue reopened Monday after an employee was assaulted outside the pub after midnight on Sunday.

Edmonton police told CTV News Edmonton a 25-year-old staff member was assaulted by a 26-year-old outside the business who had an edged weapon.

The employee was transported to hospital with significant injuries but remains in stable condition.

Police charged Miguel David Pineda with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

On social media, the bar called the attack a “random act of life threatening violence” and made the decision to close on Sunday to allow staff time to process the incident.

Police initially told CTV News Edmonton the 26-year-old who had an edged weapon was a patron of the business but later clarified that the accused was not a customer at Black Dog.

EDMONTON — Alberta reported its lowest new daily case count of the pandemic since last August as it added 60 new cases Monday. 

It’s the 12th straight day with under 200 new cases and the first time with fewer than 100 new cases since Oct. 2.

At the end of Sunday, 70.7 per cent of the province’s eligible population had received at least a first dose of vaccine. 

More than 1.1 million Albertans, just over 29 per cent of the province’s eligible population have gotten a second dose.

There are now 214 COVID-19 patients in hospital including 56 in intensive care units.

Active cases fell to 2,003.

Two more Albertans were reported to have died: a man in his 50s and a man in his 80s, both in the Calgary Zone. 

There have now been 2,292 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic, including 183 individuals under the age of 60.

The province added 33 new cases of variants of concern, including 27 of the Delta variant which now makes up 16.7 per cent of all variant cases since June 1 when screening of all cases resumed.

The province’s reproduction value, a measure of how quickly the virus is spreading, remained mostly unchanged from last week at 0.75

Alberta reported a 1.76 per cent positivity rate and administered 2,800 tests. 

Alberta is scheduled to begin Stage 3 of its reopening plan, which lifts almost all public health restrictions, on July 1.

EDMONTON — Several Pride flags were stolen or burned throughout this week at a northeast Edmonton home.

Joni Johnson told CTV News Edmonton she proudly displayed a Pride flag at the start of this week in front of her house to celebrate her daughter who recently came out.

“I took a picture of it, I sent it to her right away,” Johnson recalled. “I was very excited.”

Johnson said the flag was stolen from her home a few hours later.

“It literally was only there for hours and it was stolen.”

For her, the only reasonable thing to do was buy and place even more flags in her front yard.

“I put one back in the garden container where the original one was and I taped two together and I put them in the tree,” she said.

Then when Johnson stepped outside her home Tuesday morning the flags were not where she left them.

“That’s when I found the three flags I had put out were torn down, they were burned,” Johnson said.

She added that the sticks the flags were left on her front steps in the shape of the letter ‘F.’

When Johnson realized what had happened she said she was in complete shock.

“Completely unbelievable,” she shared. “It was devastating. I was in disbelief.”

Johnson reported the incidents to police and considered making an even bigger Pride display but ultimately reconsidered.

“I don’t want to escalate the hate and that’s what I was afraid of,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “I don’t want my neighbours to be a victim of that too.”

Johnson’s neighbour Anita Lakusta said she loved seeing support for Pride in the neighbourhood and that the incidents of vandalism left her feeling disappointed.

“It kinda left a yucky feeling in your stomach, because I mean we’re just here to support people in our community and lift those people up who have been historically and still to this day persecuted for loving people and just being themselves,” Lakusta said.

 “That was a deliberate attack and it felt really personal and close to home,” she added. “It was actually kinda scary.”

To Johnson, the Pride flag is an important symbol of love and acceptance.

“To me, the Pride flag is not just a celebration of the community,” she said. “It’s a symbol of unconditional love and acceptance for everybody.”

Johnson said despite the incidents of vandalism, she will always have a Pride flag in her yard to support her daughter.

“No matter where you go in the world, you’re going to come across intolerance and hate but I wanted to let her know that you’re never going to find that here.”

EDMONTON — Alberta reported 100 cases of COVID-19 Sunday as the number of people receiving second doses outpaced the amount of first doses administered.

In a limited update released on the province’s COVID-19 information website, approximately 4,878 tests were completed to give Alberta a positivity rate of 1.8 per cent.

Of the 100 cases reported on Sunday, 11 were previously suspected cases from previous days that had since been confirmed as positive COVID-19 test results.

The seven-day average of new cases is at 126. This is the eleventh day in a row that Alberta has reported fewer than 200 daily cases. The last time Alberta reported only 100 new cases was in September.

There are 214 people in hospital, a decline of seven patients since Saturday. There are 53 people in ICUs across the province being treated for COVID-19 – an increase of four patients since Saturday.

One more death from COVID-19 was reported Sunday, raising the provincial total to 2,290.

Second dose uptake continues to outpace first doses as more than 45,200 second doses were administered as of Saturday and only 6,675 first doses.

Approximately 70.6 per cent of those aged 12 and over in Alberta have received their first dose while 28.6 per cent of the population eligible for vaccination is fully immunized.

Since expanding second dose availability on Friday, over 250,000 Albertans have booked their final shot.

There are now 2,127 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The Calgary zone leads the province for active cases with 1,005 – representing 47 per cent of Alberta’s total amount of active infections.

The North zone has 420 active cases while the Edmonton zone has 404. The Central and South zones have 218 and 78 cases, respectively. Two active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta have an unknown zone of origin.

The reproduction number or R value for Alberta from June 7 to June 13 was 0.76 meaning the rate of transmission decreased during that period. The Edmonton zone has an R value of 0.65 while the Calgary zone has 0.79. The remainder of Alberta has an R value of 0.80.

The Calgary zone leads the province in hospitalizations and patients in ICU with COVID-19 with 107 people in hospital and 26 in intensive care. The Edmonton zone has 51 people in hospital and 14 in ICU while the North zone has 24 and 5. The Central zone has 21 people in hospital and seven in ICU while the South zone has 11 and one.

One hundred new variant of concern cases were identified in Alberta on Sunday, including 60 of the Alpha or B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom and 32 of Delta or variant first identified in India.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, is expected to deliver an in-person update about the COVID-19 situation in Alberta sometime this week.