Alberta NDP call on province to put all COVID-19 modelling on the table

EDMONTON -

The official opposition in Alberta is calling on the province to publicly release modelling used to justify the lifting of COVID-19 testing and isolation rules.

Originally, the United Conservative Party-led government was planning on lifting testing, isolation, and mandatory masking rules for transit, taxis, and ride shares in August.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s top doctor, previously said the decision to drop the pandemic response measures was made after her team reviewed data on age-specific outcomes related to COVID-19, vaccine effectiveness and modelling on the transmissibility of the Delta variant and related health outcomes.

The decision to eliminate testing, isolating, and masking measures was delayed until Sept. 27 due to rising hospitalizations that Hinshaw said exceeded projections by more than 60 per cent.

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Additionally, Hinshaw said growing evidence about the Delta variant’s effect on children led the province to back down from relaxing COVID-19 public health measures until at least the end of September.

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On Monday, David Shepherd, NDP health critic, said that all the modelling and projections driving the government’s COVID-19 response needs to be released.

“Albertans have a right to know if this modelling actually supports a September 27 teardown of testing, tracing and isolating, or if this is just more political grandstanding from Jason Kenney,” Shepherd said.

“It’s time to put all the science, all the data, and all the modelling on the table so that Albertans can have some confidence in the path forward.”

Shepherd said every Albertan wants to find a way out of the pandemic, but one that keeps people safe.

“(The UCP's) unpredictable and politically driven decision-making prevents families and businesses from making plans. It’s terrible for consumer confidence, and it harms our economy.”

Don Iveson, mayor of Edmonton, said last week that he was frustrated that the modelling has not been released.

“We would all like to see the modelling and understand what lies ahead,” he said.

• Edmonton's mayor calls on province to release pandemic modelling

Several councillors expressed frustration and concern at the meeting that data being presented by the province as showing Alberta could move from a pandemic to endemic response was not publically available, especially to aid policy decisions.

“I share the frustration that I heard from a number of members of council about the fact that, that modelling has not been made public,” Iveson added. “That vacuum fills itself with a lot of speculation which is not helping anybody make good decisions, including us.”

CTV News reached out to the province for comment.

With files from The Canadian Press