EDMONTON – Alberta is considering transferring ICU patients to other provinces as the fourth wave puts its health care system under “extreme pressure.”

Ontario has accepted to take on Alberta patients if needed, and Alberta Health Services is also in conversations with British Columbia and Manitoba, president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu told reporters on Thursday. However, in a statement to CTV News, B.C. told Alberta it will not be able to help them “given the current demands” on its healthcare system right now.

Dr. Yiu stressed AHS hopes it does not get to that point, but added: “We do not have the ability to simply open more and more ICU spaces and hospital beds and we do not have an endless number of staff who can provide critical care.”

Alberta currently has 310 ICU beds, a total that includes 137 surge beds, Dr. Yiu said. Eighty-six per cent of beds are occupied — largely by COVID-19 patients.

In addition to the possibility of out-of-province help, AHS says its field hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary are ready.

And the triage protocol is, too.

“We’ve started the educational process, so this week was sharing with our staff what it is and setting the infrastructure in place so if we had to use — again this would be an absolute, absolute last resort — that staff are ready, trained and prepared,” Dr. Yiu said.

She begged unvaccinated Albertans to get immunized to protect themselves and others, and alleviate the stress on hospitals.

“If the numbers keep increasing, right now we’re seeing on average about 18 to 20 new COVID ICU admissions every single day throughout the province, and we need to bend that curve. We need to bend that trend, and the best thing we can do is to [get vaccinated]. So I just can’t say enough how important it is for Albertans to go out and get vaccinated.”

KEY METRICS KEEP SPIKING

Alberta reported 1,718 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths on Thursday.

The province now has 18,706 active cases, 896 hospitalizations and 222 ICU admissions.

Alberta’s pandemic death toll exceeded 2,500 on Thursday.

Close to 78 per cent of hospital cases are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.

Of eligible Albertans, 79.6 per cent have one vaccine dose and 71.5 per cent have both.

Hinshaw, who gave regular media briefings for most of the pandemic before Alberta loosened its restrictions on July 1, said she would begin to give updates twice a week again.

“Given the crisis that our province is facing and the state of public health emergency that was issued yesterday, I will keep Albertans informed and will be here regularly to answer questions to the best of my ability.”

EDMONTON – Albertans woke up Thursday to new restrictions implemented by the province to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ease the burden on its health system. 

Some of the measures Alberta introduced Wednesday evening came into effect hours later at midnight. Here are the rules that are already in effect as of 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 16: 

SCHOOLS

Across the province, masks are now mandatory for students in Grades 4 and up, plus all staff and teachers.

Elementary schools are also expected to form cohorts.

There are no restrictions on outdoor activity, nor are physical distancing and masks required during physical activity.

Schools may be exempt from the mandatory mask rule if they implement an “alternate COVID safety plan.”

Other indoor activities – like performances or sports – are permitted with two-metre distancing.

WORKPLACES

The province instituted a mandatory work-from-home order on Wednesday for all employees whose physical presence isn’t considered necessary for their job.

PRIVATE SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Fully vaccinated Albertans are limited to socializing indoors with one other household up to a maximum of 10 people. Children under 12, who are not eligible for a vaccine, are allowed to participate without restrictions.

The same rules do not apply to Albertans who are eligible for vaccine but not immunized; unvaccinated people are not allowed to attend any indoor social gathering.

Outdoor social gatherings are permitted to a maximum of 200 people and mandated physical distancing.

OUTDOOR EVENTS

Outdoor events are not subject to an audience cap, according to the rules announced Wednesday. However, two metre-distancing is required.

PLACES OF WORSHIP

Starting Thursday, places of worship are limited to host one third of their fire code capacity.

Masks are also mandatory here, as well as physical distancing between households (or two close contacts for people living alone).

OTHER CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES

Similar to the rules applied to indoor school activities, all other children’s activities are allowed to continue with distancing, masking where possible, and symptom screening.

Again, minors do not have to wear a mask or distance during physical activity.

Spectator crowds for these events, however, must be capped at one third fire code capacity, and audience members must be masks and distanced from other households.

There are no restrictions on outdoor activities.

Day camps, too, are allowed to continue with physical distancing and masking while indoors. Overnight camps must be cohorted.

EDMONTON – Premier Jason Kenney apologized for his government’s recent COVID-19 response as he introduced a proof of vaccination program and implemented new restrictions for the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kenney started off the press conference by apologizing for moving Alberta too quickly from a pandemic to endemic based on provincial modelling.

“I know that we had all hoped this summer that we could put COVID behind us once and for all, that was certainly my hope and I said that very clearly,” said Kenney. “It is now clear that we were wrong, and for that I apologize.”

A reporter asked the premier to what degree the events that happened between July 1 and now were a reflection of his leadership, and if he would give Albertans more than “we were wrong, and I apologize.”

“We were wrong in talking about moving this from pandemic management to endemic management in July and August. I frankly don’t think we were wrong to lift public health restrictions in July we actually saw that case counts and the Delta variant to continue to stabilize and come down through most of July even after large public events.”

However, Kenney stuck by his Open for Summer plan that eventually saw mounting cases and hospitalizations, and a slow vaccination uptick.

“I also think it’s critically important to understand that at least in this society that you can’t sustain serious intrusions into people’s lives permanently. And so no, I don’t apologize for this decision to relax public health restrictions in the summer supported by the data.”

Kenney says that there would’ve been “massive” non-compliance and anger from people if they had maintained “lockdown-style policies” throughout the summer.

“Yes, I said a lot of optimistic things in the summer, because I think it is the job of a leader to convey a sense of hope and optimism, not a sense of despair and pessimism, and from the perspective of where we were in July there were good reasons to be hopeful and optimistic.”

The reporter doubled down on his question, asking Kenney again if he thought his leadership failed between July 1 and now, if at all.

“I don’t think this is about me, I think this is about protecting our hospitals, and we have to do what is necessary to do so.”

Wednesday marked the most Albertans ever occupying ICU beds in the history of the province, with the CEO of AHS announcing it was asking neighbouring provinces for help managing the situation.

“I don’t apologize for not maintaining lockdown-style policies permanently but I do apologize for having predicted we could be open for good.”

University of Calgary associate professor Lorian Hardcastle says an apology from the premier would have shown Albertans that he’s capable of changing and approaching the pandemic differently than he has in the past.

“I think that people are really concerned about the lack of leadership; there’s a perceived absence of the leaders in the past few weeks and I think that people wanted him to stand up and admit what they got wrong,” said Hardcastle. “Perhaps not be so defensive about the Open for Summer plan.”

Independent MLAs Drew Barnes and Todd Loewen are now calling on Jason Kenney to resign from leadership.

A statement reads: “Inconsistent and negligent management of the pandemic has destroyed public trust. For the good of the province, the Premier must immediately resign so that public trust can be restored.”

Barnes and Loewen were kicked out of Kenney’s caucus in May for openly challenging Kenney’s health rules and leadership.

Hardcastle says she doesn’t think the calls for his resignation will amount to Kenney actually resigning from office.

“But I do think time and time again we’ve seen cracks in the party that are going to be difficult for the premier to manage going forward,” she said.

“I would be surprised if he didn’t take a lot of criticism for these decisions from within his own party.”

EDMONTON – Alberta currently has more ICU admissions than it ever has, pandemic or not, as COVID-19 cases spike in the fourth wave.

Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu said there were 270 people in ICUs across the province on Tuesday — 88 per cent of the system’s capacity.

There are typically 173 staffed ICU beds in Alberta, but the province has added an additional 132 beds during the fourth wave. Without the surge beds, Dr. Yiu says the province would be at 156 per cent of ICU capacity.

“That is the highest number of ICU patients that we have ever seen at any time during the pandemic or ever in our provincialized health care system,” she said at a Wednesday night press conference where Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced a proof of vaccination program and several provincewide restrictions.

AHS has reached out to other provinces to ask if there are available beds or staff to treat its sick COVID-19 patients, Dr. Yiu said.

“We are doing this because the number of patients needing ICU is rising rapidly and we need to be prepared,” she said.

AHS has also been training clinical staff on triage protocol, but Dr. Yiu says that protocol is a last resort and has not be implemented yet.

“We will continue to do all that we can to add capacity, and we will continue to do this until we’ve exhausted every single option.”

Dr. Yiu reiterated the message of many healthcare professionals during the pandemic.

“To any Alberta who has not yet been immunized and may be hesitant, I urge you to reconsider.”

Alberta reported 1,609 new COVID-19 cases, 24 deaths and 877 hospitalizations on Wednesday.

EDMONTON – While sitting in a staff meeting at an Edmonton-area hospital, a NICU nurse received confirmation her son tested positive for COVID-19.

Cheryl Duggan told CTV News Edmonton her seven-year-old only attended school for seven days when they were notified he may have been exposed to another positive student.

On Saturday, Duggan said he started developing COVID-19 symptoms including a high fever and cough. So she wasn’t “too surprised” when her son’s test came back positive.

“It’s just been heartbreaking to see my son and not be able to do anything to help him, and know that I just have to wait this out.”

Duggan explained If health measures were still in place at Alberta schools, she believes her son would have been protected and he wouldn’t have been exposed to COVID-19.

“Anything at this point is better than nothing,” she said.

“Contact tracing was a fundamental pillar of notification and mitigating spread of COVID in schools,” Wing Li, with Support Our Students Alberta, added.

Li told CTV News parents are just realizing the affects of having the health measures eliminated now that kids have been back in the class for just over a week.

“Not knowing when your child was exposed in a classroom or in a close setting at school is concerning,” Li said.

“We echo the call to reinstate contact tracing for schools. Public health needs to step in with their resources and their infrastructure. Schools don’t have the ability to do contact tracing, they’re not public health officials.”

Duggan explained to CTV News she feels frustrated with the current climate as she’s gone above and beyond to keep her family safe over the past 18 months.

“I feel that there’s a large population of kids that aren’t yet safe, so I’m choosing to speak up,” she said.

“My voice is for them and for the babies that I work with in my NICU and the people that cannot yet be vaccinated for whatever reason.”

The provincial website does not currently list COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson