Here’s everything you should know this Friday morning! It’s Pepper & Dylan’s Things You Need to Know on February 19, 2021.

 

COVID-19

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says he believes it is safe to proceed with the province’s reopening strategy. Stage one of the reopening has went according to plan and the COVID-19 numbers are still trending downward.

Alberta reported 415 new COVID-19 cases in its most recent update, a huge drop from the numbers late last year before more intense restrictions were put into place. At our worst, Alberta reported over 1800 cases in one day.

Shandro also acknowledged that the spread of new COVID-19 variants is worrisome. Alberta reported 14 cases of the variant that originated from the UK in the last 24 hour period and 232 cases in total for the province.

Click HERE to find out more about the new variant and what Alberta is doing to investigate and combat it.

 

 

LUCY THE ELEPHANT

A third-party independent veterinary assessment has lead to animal activists lead by Jane Goodall to reverse their stance on the Valley Zoo’s Lucy the Elephant.

In December, Jane Goodall urged city council to free Lucy and let her retire in an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. She still feels bad for Lucy but the vet assessment has determined there is a greater risk in moving her than keeping her here.

The previous host of The Price is Right, Bob Barker, unsuccessfully fought for Lucy to be moved out of Edmonton for years after he met her in 2009.

Lucy is now 45 years old and has been at the Edmonton Valley Zoo since 1977. You can find out how Lucy is cared for at the Edmonton Valley Zoo and view her regular health updates HERE

 

 

JASPER PARK LODGE

Jasper Park Lodge has now messaged all of their guests who booked between February 23 and April 26, letting them know their original rooms are available once again.

All 446 rooms were booked by The Bachelorette, forcing the hotel to cancel the bookings. But, due to Canada’s travel restrictions, the show is no longer coming to Alberta and Jasper Park Lodge is crawling back to their original patrons.  Dylan is one of the original patrons…