COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for March 22

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With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.

What’s happening now

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My COVID Story: How have you been impacted by coronavirus?

Postmedia is looking to speak with people who may have been impacted by COVID-19 here in Alberta.  Have you undergone a travel-related quarantine? Have you received your vaccine, and if so did you feel any side effects? Have you changed your life for the better because of the pandemic? Send us an email at reply@calgaryherald.com to tell us your experience, or send us a message via this form.

Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.

Pharmacies in and around Calgary offering COVID-19 vaccine

This map shows 53 pharmacies in Calgary, Chestermere and Airdrie offering the COVID-19 vaccine. More locations will be added in the coming days, according to the provincial government. Appointments are still required and can be booked by contacting the participating pharmacies. Details on eligibility and booking can be found here.

Alberta detects record 184 variant cases of COVID-19

A record 184 variant cases of COVID-19 were detected on Sunday ahead of the province’s decision on the third step of economic relaunch.

The new cases are reported as Alberta’s cabinet committee on COVID-19 is expected to finalize a decision about the third stage of reopening on Monday, which would permit indoor gatherings and ease restrictions for a variety of businesses. Alberta Health’s website is clear the benchmark to enter Step 3 is “300 hospitalizations and declining.”

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Though the province reached that threshold in February, it had to wait at least three weeks between the second and third stages to allow for time to analyze the impacts of the previous eased restrictions.

However, hospitalizations have been steadily ticking upwards for just over a week now, bringing the total number closer to 300. As of Sunday, 282 people were in hospital due to COVID-19, including 47 patients requiring intensive care.

A total of 555 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Sunday. The cases came from 11,405 tests for a positivity rate of about 4.9 per cent.

Two deaths linked to outbreaks at continuing care facilities in Edmonton were reported Sunday. Their deaths bring the province’s toll to 1,963.

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She lost both parents to COVID-19, and almost died herself. What grief taught one Alberta woman about hope and love

The virus tore through the Stewart household over just six days last winter.

Jean Stewart was first to fall ill. A 92-year-old great-grandmother who wowed everyone with her skills as a seamstress, she was hospitalized at the Grey Nuns in mid-November.

Next was her husband, Lowell Stewart, a 95-year-old retired engineer who helped build Edmonton’s City Centre Mall and Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The last to get it was Lynda Stewart, 55, Jean and Lowell’s daughter, who came down with chills the day after her mother was hospitalized. Lynda was intubated and placed in a medically-induced coma. She was in such bad shape that her sister prepared her obituary.

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GraceLife Church holds another packed worship service ahead of pastor’s court date

A Parkland County church that has been defying COVID-19 restrictions held another busy service Sunday ahead of its jailed pastor’s court date.

The parking lot at GraceLife Church — which has been charged as an entity with breaching capacity limits and social distancing rules — was packed Sunday as congregants once again gathered to worship.

GraceLife Pastor James Coates is scheduled to make a court appearance Monday in Stony Plain on charges under the Public Health Act. His lawyers said last week that they have reached a deal with the Crown which will see one of the charges withdrawn and a second resolved with a fine.

They said they are hopeful Coates will be released Monday ahead of his trial on the remaining charge in May. The Crown has not commented on the alleged deal.

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Some visitations cancelled at Calgary nursing home, despite all residents being vaccinated

An outbreak of a COVID-19 variant at Calgary’s Carewest Dr. Vernon Fanning Centre is inhibiting visitations for some loved ones, even after residents at the facility were fully immunized.

Two staff members at the northeast Calgary supportive-living facility have tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which originated in the United Kingdom. The cases are not linked and are thought to be acquired in the community.

The situation is frustrating for Waldy Hugel, whose wife, Faye, has multiple sclerosis and resides at the facility.

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Sunday

Fewer COVID cases in people 80 and up, Tam says as vaccine programs expand

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has resulted in a drop in the number of infections in people over the age of 80, Canada’s chief public health officer said Sunday as several provinces prepared to further expand their immunization rollouts.

Dr. Theresa Tam said on Twitter that the reduction in cases among older adults, along with fewer outbreaks in long-term care settings, “reassure us that vaccines will bring more (and) greater benefits in the weeks to come.”

Her statement came as several provinces prepared to expand their immunization campaigns in the coming days.

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Sunday

In a time of pandemic, love is in the air on Canada-U.S. border

VANCOUVER — Christina Kelly did not picture marrying her American sweetheart in the Peace Arch Park – a 17-hectare stretch of manicured lawns and neatly trimmed garden beds at an otherwise unremarkable border crossing in the Pacific Northwest.

Kelly, a 28-year-old Canadian legal assistant from Vancouver, had been crossing back and forth between British Columbia and Washington state to see her boyfriend without a hitch for two years.

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Sunday

UK sets new daily COVID vaccination record in ‘mammoth team effort’

LONDON — More than 27.6 million people in Britain, well over half the adult population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, official data showed on Sunday, after a daily record of 844,285 doses were administered the previous day.

Some 2.2 million people have had both doses of a vaccine, the data showed.

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Sunday

Miami Beach extends curfew, emergency powers to control spring break crowds

Miami Beach officials voted on Sunday to extend an 8 p.m. curfew and emergency powers for up to three weeks to help control unruly and mostly maskless crowds that have converged on the party destination during spring break.

Thousands of people have packed the city’s Art Deco Cultural District causing bedlam and lawlessness in recent days when university students typically celebrate spring break, leading some businesses to close voluntarily out of concern for public safety.

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Sunday

Ravers feel the music at socially distanced silent disco in Barcelona

BARCELONA — Barcelona ravers have found a way to get round COVID-19 curbs on clubs by holding outdoor silent discos in some of the city’s best-known locations.

On Sunday, people welcomed the first day of spring by putting on their headphones and busting some moves at Mar Bella beach along Barcelona’s famous seafront – all while respecting social distancing regulations.

“It’s been incredible, really cool. I didn’t expect there’d be so many people,” said therapist Andres Mellado, 41.

“At first it seems a bit odd dancing in the middle of Barcelona and people were stopping to look, but it’s beautiful … It’s a great thing to do on a Sunday morning, come here and connect a bit to the music,” he said.

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