EDMONTON -- When Alberta's COVID-19 cases peak in four to five weeks, as the province anticipates, Dr. Erika MacIntyre expects to be working in the Misericordia's intensive care unit.

The ICU doctor, who also treats chronically ventilated patients and respiratory patients in a clinic setting, said she and other ICU doctors have been talking to one another, cancelling travel and freeing up their schedules from other job commitments.

"We're attempting to make the ICU the priority because we are expecting it to become quite busy," MacIntyre said in a phone interview Thursday.

The physician told CTV News Edmonton she's preparing for a long haul.

"I'm a little bit worried that people might think, 'OK, I'm home isolating but I only got a couple of weeks, right? Not a big deal.'

"And it's not going to be a couple of weeks. We're spreading it out."

As of Friday, COVID-19 patients were being admitted to all hospitals in Edmonton. Alberta Health Services said this may change.

At last count, Alberta had 146 confirmed COVID-19 cases; five patients were in hospital and two were receiving intensive care. A coronavirus patient who was in the ICU – a man in his 60s with pre-existing conditions – passed away Wednesday.

According AHS, Alberta hospitals have received 70 new adult critical care ventilators in the past month and a half and will receive 50 more by early April.

In total, the province will have 527 adult ventilators and 78 pediatric ventilators to fight COVID-19, Premier Jason Kenney said when asked in Question Period on Friday.  

According to the premier, Alberta is contributing to Ontario-led effort to procure more ventilators but its main focus is elsewhere.

"The concern is not about a scarcity of relevant equipment like ventilators, but rather trained personnel to operate equipment at the peak," Kenney told the legislature.

"That is one of the reasons we invoked a public health emergency: to give our AHS manager the capacity to manage HR so that we can have those people available."

MacIntyre believes ICUs have enough people for now, but pointed out what she called unknowns around staffing levels and equipment, such as what would happen if physicians became sick or if there were restrictions placed on trainees who work in the ICU.

"It's all up the air. I don't think you can say we will have enough because we don't know," MacIntyre commented.

"My understanding is that's why we have the whole strategy of spreading out the curve, so to speak, because if we were suddenly hit with everything at once, then no, we don't have enough. But if we spread it out, well then maybe."

She also noted the Misericordia – just like every Alberta hospital – has a limited number of ventilators and isolation rooms, which use pressure to either prevent airborne diseases from escaping the space or contagious diseases from entering it.

MacIntyre wants Albertans to understand how hard the health care system is working in anticipation of Alberta's pandemic peak.

"It's always kind of thrown out, 'We're not prepared. We're not prepared.' But I guess know that there are actually lots of people who are working hard in preparation," MacIntyre said.

"This is happening. It seems to be unavoidable. But I think we're still to a certain extent optimistic that if we are able to spread this out, then hopefully the healthcare system will be able to best support the public."