COVID TOLL RISES BY 29

Province asks federal government for support as part of contigency plan

Alberta's provincial government is preparing for plans that involve federal health support, as 29 COVID-19 deaths were reported Tuesday and nearly 1,000 people are being treated in hospital with the disease.

Transportation Minister Ric Mciver posted a letter to Twitter on Tuesday asking the federal Liberal government for support and personnel to help move patients outside of Alberta. The letter also asks federal Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair for support with critical-care staff, including nurses and respiratory therapists.

“Federal assistance in these two areas has the potential to create significant relief to the health-care system,” wrote Mciver. “We are requesting an immediate meeting to discuss these requirements.”

Responding to questions about the timing of the letter, coming one day after the federal election rather than last week when the province declared a state of emergency, Mciver said he had to wait until after he knew who would form the government to know where to send the letter.

During transfers of power, ministers remain in their roles in case of emergencies until a new government is officially sworn in.

Blair replied to Mciver online saying federal officials have been in contact with their counterparts in Alberta for the past week and that they would approve requests for support when they were received.

“We will work together to provide for the people across Alberta,” tweeted Blair.

Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday that the letter was part of contingency planning and that Alberta is not currently in a position where it has an imminent need for federal assets.

Mciver's letter was sent the same day Kenney announced a cabinet shuffle, moving Jason Copping into the role of health minister and Tyler Shandro into the Labour and Immigration portfolio. The two ministers previously held one another's position.

Copping said he plans to increase health-care capacity, increase vaccination rates among vaccine-hesitant Albertans and prepare the health-care system to adequately respond to any future waves of COVID-19.

The cabinet shuffle comes as a rising number of reports are surfacing of discontent within the United Conservative Party caucus and internal questions around Kenney's leadership.

Speaking after the cabinet shuffle, chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced 1,519 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Alberta. The provincial positivity rate is 11.1 per cent and there are 20,917 active infections across the province.

Hinshaw said 29 new COVID deaths were reported in Alberta, pushing the total toll to 2,574 since the start of the pandemic.

There are 996 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 222 in intensive care.

Kenney said there are 337 ICU beds in Alberta, including 164 surge beds that have been created in response to COVID-19. He said there are 293 people in total in ICU spaces.

“Nevertheless, with 293 ICU patients, the vast majority who are COVID positive, some 90 per cent of whom are not vaccinated, this is a very serious pressure on the system,” said Kenney. “Provincially, ICU capacity, including these additional surge beds, is currently at 87 per cent. Without the additional surge spaces, provincial ICU capacity would be 169 per cent based on our normal baseline.”

Meanwhile, Hinshaw announced the province would expand the number of Albertans eligible to receive a third, booster shot of COVID19 vaccine.

People with advanced infections of HIV, people with immunodeficiency syndrome and patients receiving highdose steroids and other immunosuppressant drugs can receive a third shot. Patients undergoing Car-t therapy can also get a third shot.

Hinshaw said the changes were made to align with new recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

“We are now including these individuals, because their conditions make it harder for them to develop and sustain the same levels of long-lasting immunity,” said Hinshaw.

Kenney said 78,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the 72 hours after the province announced the Restrictions Exemption Program last week that requires proof of vaccination to enter many non-essential spaces. The premier said about two million people have accessed their vaccination records since they were required on Monday.

As of end of day Monday, 81.4 per cent of Albertans aged 12 and up had received at least one dose of vaccine. A total of 72.8 per cent of eligible Albertans are fully vaccinated.