Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer for Health and the President and CEO of Alberta Health Services will speak on COVID-19 and the pressures on the healthcare system Thursday afternoon.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Dr. Verna Yiu are scheduled to speak at 3:30 pm Their press conference will be streamed live in this publication.
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Alberta Adds COVID-19 Measures, Vaccine Passport In Effort To Prevent Health Care System Collapse
This comes a day after Alberta announced a vaccine passport system and additional public health restrictions in response to rising ICU rates that are pushing the healthcare system to the brink of collapse.
“We may run out of staff and intensive care beds in the next 10 days,” Prime Minister Jason Kenney said Wednesday, announcing that the United Conservative government declared a state of public health emergency.
“Unless we reduce transmission (of the virus), particularly among unvaccinated Albertans, we simply will not be able to provide adequate care for everyone who becomes ill.”
As of Wednesday, Alberta had 269 intensive care patients in a system set for 173. Of the 269 ICU patients, 218 had COVID-19, the vast majority (92.3 percent) either not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. .
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Alberta Children Have Postponed Surgeries Due To High Number Of COVID-19 Cases In Hospitals
There have been massive cancellations of non-urgent surgeries across the province – transplants, some cancer treatments, and childhood surgeries, as staff are reassigned to COVID-19 care.
Yiu said that the health system has never had so many people in intensive care at the same time.
The classification has not yet been activated, he said, but staff are being briefed on the rules and processes.
“If activated, the triage will be provincial in scope (and) applicable to all health facilities and intensive care units in Alberta,” Yiu said Wednesday.
Alberta has more than 18,000 active COVID-19 cases, by far the highest in Canada. In the past 24 hours, 24 COVID-related deaths were reported, Alberta Health said Wednesday.
The province has lagged behind when it comes to vaccinations, with less than 72 percent of those over the age of 12, who are eligible, fully immunized.
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Alberta Doctors and Businesses React to New COVID-19 Measures and Vaccine Passport
To stop transmission, the Kenney government introduced a series of measures including a passport form of the vaccine.
Several provinces are bringing passports, which require people to show that they have been vaccinated before they can use non-essential services.
Kenney said he was reluctant to pass what he called a “restriction waiver program.”
Starting September 20, discretionary events and businesses (including retail stores, restaurants, nightclubs, casinos, concerts, and libraries) must follow one of two options:
- Implement the Restriction Waiver Program that requires proof of vaccination or negative rapid test result to continue to function as usual, or
- Choose not to implement the Restriction Waiver Program and follow capacity and operating restrictions described here.
Companies that choose not to participate in the program may operate at reduced capacity and with distancing rules or restrictions. For example, restaurants not on the program are limited to alfresco dining with no more than six people at a table, or two designated contacts for Albertans living alone.
However, when it comes to private indoor social gatherings, fully vaccinated Albertans cannot apply for exemptions.
The government said immunized Albertans should limit their gatherings to a cohort of 10 and be “limited to one household plus one other household.”
Unvaccinated Albertans will no longer be allowed to attend any private social gatherings. Outdoor events will continue to have no capacity limits, but a physical distance of two meters will be required.
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Alberta’s COVID-19 Vaccine Passport, New Restrictions: How Things Will Change
There are also mandatory work-from-home orders, unless it is essential to have a worker on site. Masking in schools, previously left to school boards, is now mandatory for students in 4th grade and up, along with staff and teachers of all grades.
NDP opposition leader Rachel Notley said the necessary measures were woefully preventable.
“This is a crisis of this prime minister and the creation of his own cabinet.”
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Alberta’s COVID-19 is a warning. Vaccines alone ‘won’t be fast enough’: Tam
He said Kenney pushed Alberta faster and harder than any other province and refused to act for weeks when it was obvious something had to be done.
“He refused to take responsibility. In fact, he blamed the low vaccination rates for the fact that he ignored the evidence and went into hiding.
“What we saw today from the prime minister was not an apology. It was a shameful attempt to avoid responsibility. “
– With files from Phil Heidenreich, Global News
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca