Calgary's COVID-19 case count makes up nearly half of all cases in Alberta

Calgary's COVID-19 case count has grown exponentially the last few weeks and now accounts for almost half of cases province-wide.

The province is only reporting preliminary data over the Easter long weekend, butas of Thursday Calgary had 4,058 active cases while Alberta as a whole wasat 8,653.

These case counts are more than doubleFebruary's numbers, when the highestprovince-wide daily count of new cases was 456 on Feb. 2.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said at a press conference for a mass vaccination centre Saturday morning that things are looking grim right now.

"Things are moving in the wrong direction and they are moving incredibly rapidly in the wrong direction," he said.

"We doubled our number of new cases a day more or less in about a week. That's scary."

• WATCH | Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi talks about Alberta's rising COVID-19 cases in the video above.

The mayor said he expects the province will hit a 2,000 daily case count soon if people are not "incrediblydisciplined."

"We'll be in a position this spring and the summer where we can start easing off on restrictions and letting people have a bit of that normalcy back," he said.

On Thursday, PremierJason Kenney said the province is seeing a new wave of COVID-19 infectionsand it's up to Albertans to comply with health restrictionsto bring cases down.

"I'm here instead with a plea: Please, please, follow Alberta's health restrictions and guidelines this weekend and in the weeks to come," he said.

"How many hundreds or thousands of people it sends to hospitals, how many surgeries it forces us to cancel and how many lives it takes is all up to the decisions that we make now."

However the province did not announce more restrictions like others didahead of the Easter long weekend.

Ontario entereda month-long "emergency brake" shutdown on Saturday, which meanspersonal care services, gyms and indoor dining must shut down, but schools and most retailers can stay open with specific capacity limits in place.

But Nenshi saidwhat the rules are doesn't matter as much aspeople's ability to follow them.

"It's not the restrictions that make the difference, it's people's ability to follow them. And so ultimately, we can't blame the province as much as I would like to for making the right or the wrong decision."

City's enforcement measures

In a press release on Thursday,the City of Calgary said thatsince the Temporary COVID-19 Face Coverings Bylaw came into effect Aug. 1, 2020, police have issued 333 violation tickets.

Of those, 15 tickets were issued on the same day, which was last week on March 25.

The city have also issue 206 violation ticketsunder the Public Health Act, which came into effect on Nov. 24.

The release says two of those violation tickets were also issuedthe same day on March 25.

The city sayscollaborative COVID-19 enforcement measures between peace officers, police and Alberta Health Services are helping ensurebylaws and public health orders are followed.

If Calgarians or businesses see a violation, the city says they cansubmit questions, concerns or report complaints to Alberta Health Servicesonline or by calling 1-833-415-9179, or to The City by contacting 311 or the CPS non-emergency line at 403-266-1234.