'Flirting on the knife's edge': Oilers welcome fans back as doctors warn a new lockdown is needed in Alberta
For the first time since the NHL suspended its 2019-20 season due to COVID-19 in March of last year, the Edmonton Oilers welcomed fans back into Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
Under Alberta's Restrictions Exemption Program, the pre-season game against the Seattle Kraken could have been played in front of a sellout crowd; a scenario not without risk of COVID-19 transmission, according to the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).
“I think the risk isn’t zero and I think what we’re saying is we don’t have a lot of room on the runway anymore,” AMA president Dr. Paul Boucher told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.
Outside the arena doors, COVID-19 continued to push Alberta's health-care workers and ICUs close to their limits. With 20,513 active cases in the province, Alberta has close to half of Canada's 46,425 active cases.
The province had military personnel on standby to help, record ICU numbers, surgery cancellations and health-care staff recently educated on Alberta's triage protocols.
The situation caused the AMA to recommend a new lockdown period to Alberta's health minister.
"We're flirting on the knife edge," said Dr. Boucher, "and that's where the call came from."
Despite the call for a new lockdown, the Oilers hosted 13,000 fans at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
Dr. Boucher commended Alberta's two NHL teams for announcing special COVID-19 preventative measures prior to the province's latest restrictions' announcement.
The AMA president said, while the optics of allowing large crowds to gather indoors aren't great, it shouldn't be the Oilers decision to make.
"It's really not, in many ways, the Oilers job to be gauging ICU capacity and how much risk they can take with opening the game," said Dr. Boucher. "That should come from our government."
While a sellout crowd at Tuesday's pre-season game was technically possible, Oilers Entertainment Group's (OEG) Tim Shipton said it wasn't likely.
"The good thing about pre-season for where things are at right now is that we typically expect between 60 and 70 per cent attendance," Shipton told CTV News Edmonton.
Alberta's Restrictions Exemption Program meant fans over the age of 12 needed to show proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test from within 72 hours, in order to attend the game.
The Edmonton Oilers are the only Canadian team in the NHL to allow unvaccinated fans to attend their games, a move infectious disease expert Dr. Lynora Saxinger said could cause some problems.
"A three-days-ago rapid test, I think, also leaves a fairly large margin for potential error in terms of missing someone who could be infectious,” she said.
Meanwhile, even Shipton admitted the province's proof of vaccination document isn't a foolproof measure.
"Certainly there’s an element of good faith I guess that has to go into people coming into the venue,” he said.
The Oilers said they would try to keep people spaced out for Tuesday's game, adding they would monitor how things go and potentially adjust policy if needed.
"We have supported frontline workers and medical professionals in the province of Alberta throughout the pandemic and we definitely are listening to medical experts as we craft our policy," said Shipton.
"We have a system in place here in Alberta, under the Restrictions Exemption Program, that we're going to be following. We feel, at OEG, that there are things we can do to enhance the system."
As of Tuesday, Alberta had 1,100 patients in hospital with COVID-19, with 263 of those in ICU, according to the province.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Dan Grummett
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.