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Town of Canmore cancels New Year's Eve celebrations as COVID-19 cases grow

“We know this comes as disappointing news to residents. However, we want to do our part to ensure that we enter the New Year healthy and safe,” the Town stated in a release.
Town of Canmore
Town of Canmore civic centre

CANMORE – For the second consecutive year, the Town of Canmore has cancelled its plans for New Year’s Eve.

The Town announced the cancellation Thursday (Dec. 30) due to the growing numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Town and the Bow Valley.

“We know this comes as disappointing news to residents. However, we want to do our part to ensure that we enter the New Year healthy and safe,” the Town stated in a release.

The release emphasized the decision was made to cancel the in-person New Year’s Eve events for “the safety of residents, volunteers and staff.”

The Town had originally planned a Party in the Park, drive-in midnight fireworks and a fireworks display at 10 pm.

The decision comes about 24 hours after the Town of Banff cancelled its New Year’s Eve events for similar reasons and the extreme cold being felt across the province. The expected forecast is to have a high of -20 Celsius.

“Even though the event was designed to provide more space for participants and protocols made the outdoors event a COVID-safe experience, the rapid rise in infection with the omicron variant of COVID-19 and evolving science about the transmission has resulted in a decision to cancel all indoor and outdoor NYE events out of an abundance of caution,” stated the Town of Banff Wednesday.

“We are optimistic that the New Year promises a transition away from the impact of the pandemic due to the increase in immunization. But we need to get past the ‘fifth wave’.”

As of Wednesday, the Town of Canmore has 79 active cases and a case rate of 477 per 100,000 people.

Banff and Lake Louise have 131 active confirmed cases and an active case rate of 974 per 100,000 people. The MD of Bighorn has 17 active cases and 334 active cases per 100,000 people.

There are 17,396 active cases in Alberta, with 349 people in hospitals and 57 in intensive care as of Wednesday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 3,310 people have died from COVID-19 in the province.

Case counts have drastically risen in recent days. Between Dec. 23-27, there were 8,143 new cases and a positive testing rate of more than 20 per cent.

The Town of Canmore highlighted ice surfaces are open for outdoor skating, the Canmore Nordic Centre also remains open for skiing and Tourism Canmore Kananaskis has ongoing events in the area.

For more information, visit: canmore.ca/NYE.

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