'People are furious': Criticism over new Alberta public health measures mounts
As COVID-19 cases in Alberta surge and health-care leaders call for military aid to help beleaguered hospital staff, some are worried the latest public health measures may not help curb the fourth wave.
On Friday, Alberta reported more than 2,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the first time since May. While the next data update is expected Monday, the province has 19,201 active cases and 911 hospitalizations – including 215 ICU admissions.
The province released triage protocols to guide workers on how life-and-death decisions should be made if the province’s healthcare system is overwhelmed, and field hospitals were prepared in Calgary and Edmonton.
Other provinces pledged support to help Alberta deal with the fourth wave of the pandemic, including offers of pharmaceutical aid from Manitoba and the ability to send patients for care to Ontario.
- Time for military support in 'overwhelmed' hospitals: Alberta health-care union leaders
- Ontario confirms the province will help Alberta with overwhelmed ICUs
- Triage protocols made public by Alberta Health Services
Don Iveson, Edmonton’s mayor, told CTV News that the province should have taken the word of public health experts who were sounding alarm over the open for summer plan back in June.
“What we were promised in Alberta with open for summer,” Iveson said, “was a false promise because not enough people were vaccinated and our doctors and epidemiologists here in Edmonton were saying that at the time.
“We should have listened to them, or our decision-maker should have listened to them,” Iveson added.
That is why the City of Edmonton erred on the side of caution when it came to measures like mask mandates, Iveson said.
“Edmonton City Council takes very seriously what our healthcare leaders in the city say,” he said. “Notwithstanding the signals that everything’s fine coming out of the legislature, which were wrong.”
Iveson shared that he has heard large amounts of frustration from Albertans reacting to the newest public health measures.
“I’ve never seen Albertans this mad across the political spectrum about the situation we find ourselves in,” he said. “People are furious.
“Just call it a vaccine passport if you’re going to reverse course,” Iveson added. “Make it straightforward rather than a proof of vaccination restriction exemption program, which is an un-passport, which downloads the onus onto small businesses and municipalities like mine to have to make venue by venue decisions about whether we’re going to opt into this and that."
- Lack of worker vaccine requirement in Alberta a 'loophole,' says health law expert
- Bars and restaurants scramble to prepare for Alberta’s vaccine exemption program
- 'We're tired of being tired': Nurses rally in support of healthcare workers
The mayor said he and other colleagues in municipal governance are concerned that the program could create potential for inconsistencies across the province.
“That lack of clarity,” he said,” leads to potential for misinterpretation and potential for conflict on a store-by-storefront basis.”
- Retailers cut out of Alberta's vaccine program just days before changes take hold
- Olds, Alta. restaurant backs down, removes anti-restrictions sign
Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary emergency room doctor and outspoken activist about the need for COVID-19 restrictions, told CTV News that the measures introduced last week by the premier “will not be enough.”
“I can tell you that the measures that were introduced on Wednesday, in my mind, won’t be enough to curb the exponential growth of cases,” Vipond said.
“And as such, we should be continuing to see growth of hospitalizations and ICU (admissions),” Vipond added. “If that’s the case, if we continue to have not just tens of people needing ICUs that we don’t have room for but dozens or hundreds, I don’t know what we can except maybe implement these (triage) protocols and that is deeply concerning.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Diego Romero
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Shivering for health: The myths and truths of ice baths explained
In a climate of social media-endorsed wellness rituals, plunging into cold water has promised to aid muscle recovery, enhance mental health and support immune system function. But the evidence of such benefits sits on thin ice, according to researchers.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.