THE BATTLE CONTINUES
Vaccine rules revised
Rates of COVID-19 infection in Alberta continued to surge, as the province on Friday reported another 1,690 cases of the virus.
The recent spike in cases comes as Alberta officials stay mum on the possibility of introducing new public-health restrictions to beat back the cresting third wave.
Alberta's 1,690 new novel coronavirus infections mark the province's third-highest daily total in the third wave, not quite reaching the record 1,857 cases tallied the previous day.
The cases come from about 17,500 tests, representing a positivity rate of 9.6 per cent.
Among the new cases were 1,184 variants, including 96 more cases of the more contagious P.1 strain first found in Brazil. The majority of the new variant cases were the B.1.1.7 strain, which was first detected in the United Kingdom and has become dominant in Alberta.
Variant cases now make up 60.4 per cent of Alberta's active cases. There are 19,446 total active cases in Alberta, a number inching closer to the province's second-wave peak of nearly 21,000 active infections.
Alberta recorded significant upticks in the utilization of both hospital and intensive-care unit beds for COVID-19 patients. There are now 549 Albertans in hospital with the virus, a six per cent jump from the previous day. Of those patients, 125 are in ICU, an eight per cent increase.
Five more deaths from the virus were also recorded, with four taking place within the Alberta Health Services Calgary Zone. In total, 2,059 Albertans have died of COVID -19.
It has now been two and a half weeks since Alberta rolled back to Step 1 of its phased reopening plan. It typically takes 10 to 14 days for public-health measures to reflect in daily case rates.
Amid the swell in infections, both Alberta's top doctor and its health minister deflected responsibility for introducing new public-health restrictions to curb transmission.
On Thursday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said no additional public-health measures were immediately forthcoming, adding it will be elected MLAS, not her, who will make the call on restrictions.
“Those decisions are made by elected officials who are appropriately the ones to make those decisions,” Hinshaw said. “The need for any additional measures is being discussed, looking at the data and multiple factors that weigh into that decision.”
But when asked Friday about possible restrictions, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said the ball was in Hinshaw's court.
“We do not, right now, have any options that are recommended to us by Dr. Hinshaw and her office,” Shandro said.
“We don't have any recommendations right now from Dr. Hinshaw, but we will continue to make sure she has all the resources available to her to make the right recommendations to (the) emergency management cabinet committee, and we will continue to hear those recommendations from her when she comes forward with concerns she might have about community spread.”
The lack of clarity over decision-making on public-health measures has been an ongoing concern throughout the pandemic, says University of Calgary health law specialist Lorian Hardcastle. She said political considerations factor in to who makes decisions on public-health measures and who answers for those decisions publicly.
“There's this passing of the buck, of who's to blame, that's causing problems with public trust, and it has the effect of undermining the measures and undermining the confidence of (government) to make decisions,” Hardcastle said.
“When it's convenient for Shandro or (Premier Jason) Kenney, they're making the decisions, the cabinet COVID committee is in charge and Hinshaw is the adviser. But when it's less convenient, it's Hinshaw out to fend for herself on all the decisions.”
By letter of the law, Hinshaw has the power to issue “a wide array of restrictions” in response to the pandemic, Hardcastle explained.
But in practice, Hinshaw has taken on an advisory role, with a government cabinet committee choosing whether to follow through on recommendations.
“Even though it's still her authority, she's still the one writing the orders, there's this committee actually making the decisions,” Hardcastle said.
Hinshaw did not provide an update on Friday. In a tweet, she asked Albertans to follow existing public-health rules over the weekend.
“This weekend, please refrain from gathering indoors, stay home when feeling unwell and follow all other restrictions in place.
“It's not too late to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our province, but we all must do our part.
Alberta reached a new single-day record for immunizations against COVID-19, with 44,550 shots administered Thursday.
The influx means 1.32 million jabs have now been given in Alberta, with 1.06 million Albertans having received at least one of the two necessary doses.
Twenty-four per cent of Albertans have had at least one shot. Among those in the 16-plus age group, which vaccines have been authorized for, 29.5 per cent have got their first jab.
A significant contributor to Alberta's accelerated immunization pace is Astrazeneca shots, which expanded to those born in 1981 and earlier this week.
In the last three days, 48,000 Astrazeneca shots have been administered. Alberta now has 112,000 shots of the vaccine remaining, with more than 100,000 appointments for those doses booked over the next two weeks.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization adjusted its recommendations on the Astrazeneca vaccine Friday, saying anyone age 30 or older can get the vaccine if they don't want to wait for an alternative.
Previously, the committee recommended those younger than 55 not get the shot due to rare blood clotting events. Five instances of clotting linked to Astrazeneca have been reported in Canada to date from more than 1.1 million immunizations.
But Shandro said Albertans won't be able to make use of the adjusted recommendations in the foreseeable future, as most current doses of Astrazeneca are booked and no future shipments have been confirmed.
“It's disappointing that we have not received confirmation of any future shipments of Astrazeneca arriving in Alberta,” Shandro said on Twitter.
“We continue to call on the federal government to do whatever it takes to increase vaccine supply in the coming weeks.”
Elsewhere Friday, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alongside members of Calgary's Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic.
Nenshi told Trudeau his neighbourhood, in Calgary's northeast, had been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, largely due to the area's high proportion of essential workers.
“There have been many points during this year when the infection rates here in northeast Calgary were higher than any country in the world,” Nenshi said. “There's no one in my neighbourhood who doesn't know someone personally who has died of COVID-19. I'm up to about a dozen now.
“My neighbours are doing important work. They're on the front lines of the food supply chain, they're on the front lines of health care. They work in long-term care homes.”