Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the province is working on new sports guidelines, Provincial officials met with sports organizations on Friday, May 22 to hear their feedback on possible guidelines for sports as Alberta continues to move forward with the province-wide relaunch. 

At this time Stage Two of the Alberta relaunch plan does not include, sports, fitness, and recreation, however, Hinshaw notes that as they move forward they continue to evaluate different areas and that could possibly change.

"We are looking to pull together a proposal to bring forward to our Emergency Management Cabinet Committee to have a discussion about reclassifying areas of sports, fitness, and recreation that could be moved sooner potentially, depending on if the guidelines are met," she says.

The goal is to have the new sport's guidelines to be posted online by the end of this week.

"When it comes to outdoor recreation, certainly any sports organization that can have their activities meet those current outdoor recreation guidelines can start that right away. And those who perhaps there might be some challenges meeting the current outdoor recreation guidelines, the sport's guidelines that are coming by the end of this week will help give some guidelines on how sports can resume safely."

Currently, in Alberta the guidelines allow up to 50 people to gather outdoors as long physical distancing of at least two metres is maintained. Although some green spaces and recreation areas have reopened league play is still not permitted at this time.

"We recognize the importance of sports, recreation, and fitness, and so that's something that we're prioritizing, both with the guidelines that are coming out this week as well as the discussion that we intend to have with the Emergency Management Cabinet Committee on a potential reclassification," Hinshaw says.