Thread by @AndrewLawton

BREAKING: Alberta Jason Kenney declares "state of public health emergency," predicting Alberta will run out of ICU beds in next 10 days. Kenney calls for three steps: Maximize healthcare capacity, reduce transmission by reducing interactions, increase vaccination.

"This is a crisis of the unvaccinated," Kenney says, saying 90 per cent of ICU COVID patients are unvaccinated.

Kenney says he doesn't seek to "stigmatize" people but says being unvaccinated has "real consequences" for society and healthcare system. Says Alberta is being hardest hit in Canada because of low vaccination rate.

"It has now become clear that to save lives and prevent business closures, we must go further to encourage vaccination," Kenney says, saying he's "reluctantly" decided to impose a vaccine passport for "higher risk" activities, with testing alternative available.

Kenney has flip-flopped on his clear and unambiguous opposition to a vaccine passport. Alberta is stratifying civil society based on vaccination status.

Kenney claims his earlier opposition to vaccine passports was strictly because of privacy concerns. This is simply not true. Privacy concerns were raised, but not as prominently as a general moral opposition to them.

"It is now clear that we were wrong, and for that I apologize," Kenney says.

COVID is "not predictable," Kenney says.

I can't watch this and not think it is the end of Jason Kenney's political career. The lockdown-mongers will never accept anything less than a full lockdown, and the reopeners will never forgive Kenney for this.

Tyler Shandro says effective at 12:01am tonight, physical distancing requirement is being added in addition to current mandate. Indoor gatherings for vaccinated individuals limited to two households to a 10-person max.

For unvaccinated people, indoor gatherings will be illegal starting tonight, Alberta health minister Tyler Shandro says.

Places of worship restricted to one-third of normal capacity and masks are now required, Shandro says.

Alberta is making masks mandatory in schools for students grade 4 and up.

Alberta imposing mandatory work-from-home order except where the employer has determined in-person work is operationally essential. (On its surface, this seems to give companies a fair bit of latitude).

Starting September 20, indoor weddings and funerals limited to 50 people or 50 per cent of capacity, whichever is less. Brutal for couples who've already booked venues under the promise that Alberta was open.

Alberta is shutting down all indoor dining starting September 20, but allowing outdoor dining, which is totally viable in Alberta in the fall right?

Retail can remain open but must restrict capacity to one-third of fire code capacity. Same goes for entertainment venues. Shandro asking people to only go with members of your household.

Effective Sept. 20, businesses can opt into the government's vaccine passport program, meaning they can serve only vaccinated patrons. Shandro says this will "increase vaccination rates."

The shutdowns I laid out in previous tweets appear to only apply if businesses refuse to adopt the vaccine passport program. Or a "restrictions exemption program," as the Alberta government has decided to call it.

The government is pretending its vaccine passport is voluntary for businesses, but the alternative is, in some cases, not being allowed to feasibly stay open (such as with restaurants). This is not what "voluntary" means, Alberta.

For those non-Canadians following along, Alberta was the lone holdout on these sweeping restrictions. The "Florida of Canada," if you will. Now, that's all been reversed by the same people who've spent months telling us they wanted a measured, reasonable, and OPEN approach.

Deena Hinshaw says "no one sector is to blame" for transmission, explaining why measures have to be sweeping and cross-sectoral.

Question from @tylerrdawson on why vaccinated individuals have a gathering limit. Min. Shandro says breakthrough cases are possible and "pressures" on healthcare system require measures to try to bring down cases in community.

Adding to response on why vaccinated people have gathering restrictions, Dr. Hinshaw says "Every single Albertan to be a part of preventing ongoing transmission."

I didn't get called on to ask Kenney a question at the press conference (a long queue tonight). Here are the two questions I would have asked.