Friends of Medicare: long-term covid plan needed in Alberta

Ontario, Quebec and BC have already declared a seventh wave of Covid. The Alberta Government is lagging behind in their response, as has been true over the entire pandemic. The seventh wave has already landed here and the Government failing to acknowledge it is not going to stop the wave from cresting.

Chris Gallaway, Executive Director for Friends of Medicare said, “we are clearly in a seventh wave. Our wastewater numbers are up, case numbers are up, hospitalizations are up. We know it’s happening.”

PCR testing is still not available for most Albertans. According to the Alberta Health Services website, those who are pregnant, eligible for anti-viral treatment or need to test to inform their care can be tested via a physician referral. Healthcare workers, disability support, group home, shelter workers, correctional facility staff, and those who provide services in a clinical setting are eligible to book a test if they display symptoms.

“We saw this week some policy changes by the government which really demonstrated their approach all along, they are the first to roll back public health protection and declare the pandemic over and often the last in the country to put something in place, like fourth doses of the vaccine. This is why we believe we’ve had some of the worst results consistently on Covid in the country. The government is very determined to declare it over and move on and very stubborn about doing anything to protect folks,” stated Gallaway.

Covid is not going away, it is here to stay. In response, Alberta needs a long-term plan and some structural changes. Friends of Medicare believes a good start would be improving the air quality in schools and public buildings by installing HEPA filters. Paid sick days would also help.

“There are things we could do to decrease the impact of this pandemic,” said Gallaway, “rather than declaring it over then frantically declaring a new policy to try to prevent the wave we are already in.”

Fourth doses of the Covid vaccine are now available for those 18 and over. However, the Government didn’t give pharmacies advance

warning, leaving them scrambling to organize a booking plan, stock the vaccines and prepare staff. “There is no real plan or long-term response,” stated Gallaway, “it’s all one off in the moment and then we try to move on.”

Numbers are up across the board. As of July 18, according to www.alberta.ca/ covid-19-alberta, there were 307 new cases, 559 in hospital and 23 in ICU. As Gallaway points out, “new numbers are up. ICU’s were up 50% and our testing positive rate is up 20%. As we are also not allowing most people to get tested, it is concerning that of those getting tested over 20% are positive, which means they are quite sick if they are even getting the test and that is often health care workers, adding more strain to the system that is already shortstaffed.”