Fully vaccinated seniors in Alberta long-term care homes will no longer have to quarantine after overnight outings if they are vaccinated and test negative

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Fully vaccinated Albertans in long-term care homes will not have to undergo a full quarantine after a day or overnight trip outside the facility as long as they pass an initial health screen.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the provincial chief medical officer of health, announced the change Tuesday saying fully vaccinated seniors will also not have to quarantine upon admission of a facility if they test negative and pass a health screening. The change will come into effect May 31.

Residents will still have to fully quarantine if they travel internationally or if they return from a health-care facility that is in an outbreak. Anyone who doesn’t pass the initial health screen will have to isolate.

“All residents will undergo a health assessment screening upon returning to a facility,” said Hinshaw. “The precautions for residents who pass the screening will be based on a vaccination status if the individual.”

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While fully vaccinated people will have no further health measures, non-vaccinated or semi-vaccinated individuals will need to provide twice daily symptom checks for 14 days.

Residents will also be required to undergo a health screen before they leave the facility. Masking, social distancing and hand hygiene will continue to be required upon returning to a long-term care home.

The changes came as the province recorded 908 new cases Tuesday. The latest count comes after close to 10,400 tests were completed in the past 24 hours. Alberta has a 9.1 per cent positivity rate.

There are 685 people in hospital, including 185 in intensive care.

Six new deaths have been recorded.

More to come..

dshort@postmedia.com