CALGARY — Alberta Health Services (AHS) is taking further steps to ease the burden on the province’s health care system, now that COVID-19 cases are spiking once more.

Starting Friday morning, the agency says it will be postponing scheduled non-urgent surgeries and procedures across all five of Alberta’s health zones.

The move comes approximately a week after AHS said it would be delaying 30 per cent of non-urgent surgeries in the Edmonton and North zones.

“The number of Albertans needing ICU care has increased rapidly in the past week,” said AHS CEO Dr. Verna Yiu Friday. “While our front line teams are doing an incredible job in caring for Albertans, we need your help.”

AHS released the following details on the scheduled postponements:

• Up to 60 per cent of surgeries in the North zone;
• Up to 40 per cent of endoscopy procedures and up to 30 per cent of schedule surgeries in the Central Zone and;
• Up to 30 per cent of scheduled surgeries, endoscopy and outpatient visits in the Calgary and South zones.

The Edmonton zone will also see delayed procedures and surgeries increase to about 50 per cent, 20 per cent more than what was previously announced.

All urgent and emergent procedures will still occur, as will priority cancer surgeries.

“The specific number of postponements will be determined by the zone. All patients affected will be contacted directly by Alberta Health Services,” Yiu said.

PATIENTS CONTINUE LONG WAIT FOR PROCEDURES

Gail Langley has been waiting for a hip replacement surgery for more than 18 months and is taking desperate measures to improve her quality of life.

“I’ve sold my house hoping for a big profit so I could access private surgery, moved into a condo, and downsized due to a decline in my mobility,” she said.

“As a senior on a fixed retirement budget even with the sale of my small home I cannot afford the $35,000-$45,000 fee for what has now become an issue with my knee and both hips.”

Langley says her doctors are continuing to encourage her to contact her local MLA or explore private care at her own expense.

“I’ve explored going to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and even rural hospitals, but I’m just told I’m on a list and would not be put on more than one list in Alberta.”

ALBERTA’S ICU CAPACITY AT 95%

While Yiu pressed the importance of Albertans getting vaccinated and the changes to surgical times, she also revealed that the province’s intensive care units are close to capacity.

“It was 95 per cent provincially. I think one of the benefits of an integrated provincialized system is that we are actually able to work provincially to make sure we are able to spread the resources across the province.

“While Edmonton may be very tight, we know that we potentially have more spaces in Calgary and in South zone. So understanding that we are able to shift the resources to make sure we’ve got adequate resources across the province.”

Changes are also being made to add care beds in Calgary and Edmonton to improve access for patients.

They include five beds in the Pandemic Response Unit (PRU) at Calgary’s South Health Campus for day medicine patients. Edmonton’s PRU at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic is also being looked at as a way to free up more beds in the next few weeks.

AHS is also asking staff members, both part-time and casual, to consider taking extra shifts, as it says hospitals and care centres are still facing a staffing crunch.

“We do not make these decisions lightly and we acknowledge that postponing procedures and surgeries has a very deep impact on impacted patients, their families and loved ones,” Yiu said. “But it is imperative that we maintain capacity in our hospitals, not just for patients with COVID-19, but for any Alberta who needs care.”

‘WE’VE BEEN ASKING GOVERNMENT TO STEP UP’: UNITED NURSES OF ALBERTA

The United Nurses of Alberta are expressing concern and disappointment with provincial health leadership in the province as a result of the decision to postpone non-urgent surgeries.

Local 115 President, Kevin Champagne says the government should have anticipated this and been proactive in taking measures beforehand.

“Because this decision was made within the last 48 hours to reassign nurses, there isn’t a time to provide orientation or buddy shifts for nurses so that means you have to utilize the human resources that had previous training in those areas and those nurses need a break,” he said.

“It’s just unfair to continue to put unfair pressure on us, we have nurses more than ever going  to physicians at this point in time because their mental health has been impacted and they’re burning out.”

Champagne adds that vacations are also being cancelled for nurses to ensure proper staffing for ICU beds.

“If it’s okay for our premier to take vacation for his burnout. You would think it reasonable for nurses to take a vacation.”

EDMONTON — Amid an influx of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Alberta is reinstating measures it got rid of just two months ago as well as offering a $100 vaccination incentive.

Starting Saturday, masks will be mandatory across the province in all indoor public and work spaces. Schools will continue to set their own policies.

Licensed businesses will be required to end alcohol service at 10 p.m.

And, Alberta will pay unvaccinated residents $100 to get the COVID-19 shot.

The announcement on Friday came with a plea from Premier Jason Kenney for the 30 per cent of eligible unvaccinated Albertans to “do the right thing.” Their choice to not get vaccinated, he said, was jeopardizing the health care system, whose ICU capacity was at 95 per cent province wide that morning.

He disagreed the $100 incentive was a bribe or reward to people who had so far ignored medical and scientific advice.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is not a time for moral judgements. This is a time to get people vaccinated,” he said.

“I’m much more concerned about protecting our hospitals than I am about some abstract message that this sends.”

He also believes the financial incentive will reduce barriers for lower-income residents.

PANDEMIC OF THE UNVACCINATED

Kenney characterized the spread of the Delta variant in the unvaccinated population as “ripping its way through this group at an aggressive rate.”

According to provincial data, since Alberta fully reopened July 1, unvaccinated adults between the ages of 20 and 59 have had a 50-to-60-times higher risk of hospitalization. More than 80 per cent of all COVID-19 hospitalizations since July 1 have been unvaccinated people. Of the current 114 ICU patients, 91 per cent are unvaccinated.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro said he and his colleagues “honestly thought” more of the public would be vaccinated by September when they lifted restrictions in July. That decision, he said, was based off data from the United Kingdom which suggested the Delta variant caused a spike in cases but didn’t raise severe outcomes the same way.

The modelling from which the province crafted its reopening plan that launched on July 1 was released Friday.

It shows Alberta is approaching the model’s “high scenario” which would see more than 1,700 cases a day within the next two weeks.

It also indicates the number of patients in hospital is also rising quicker than anticipated, with as many as 300 patients in ICU and nearly 700 non-ICU hospitalizations listed as a “high scenario” that could play out over the next three weeks.

The premier also warned Friday that the modelling’s projected late-September peak could be “longer and later.”

But the officials expect Friday’s measures to be enough to keep COVID-19 from overrunning the hospital system.

“This wave, we anticipate, will be different from previous waves as it is a smaller group of the population who is susceptible,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.

She called a list of measures she brought to cabinet for consideration, including those announced Friday, a “reasonable balance” of the impacts of COVID-19 and public health orders.

‘FOR THE LOVE OF GOD’

All officials made another attempt to convince vaccine-hesitant residents of the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 shot.

“If you just haven’t gotten around to if, for the love of God, please get vaccinated now,” Kenney begged.

The mask and alcohol rules are the only hard lines being set by the Alberta government.

It is also recommending, where possible, employers do not plan to bring employees back to the office.

And officials encouraged unvaccinated people to limit their social visits to close contacts: no more than two families totalling 10 people. Vaccinated Albertans do not need to do the same.

Non-urgent surgeries are being postponed in all five health regions, too.

Alberta will not mandate vaccines at the public level, Kenney reiterated.

He remarked earlier in the press conference: “The reality is that we as a government don’t get to choose how the virus behaves or how many people choose to protect themselves against it. We just have to find a way of limiting the damage that it causes, especially to our health care system.”

Hinshaw declined to say whether or not she supported a vaccine passport, telling media instead she believed policy decisions should be made officials elected by a population.

“It’s clear that in other populations when a requirements have been introduced that uptake has increased, but at the same time that is not without some impact. So again, those kinds of decisions need to be made taking into account local context as well as what’s been seen in other jurisdictions.”

The personal incentive program will be available to all Albertans who receive their first or second shot between Sept. 3 and Oct. 14 in the form of one pre-filled debit card. Online registration will open Sept. 13. 

EDMONTON — ‘Open Streets’ is returning to the city and is planned to take place Sep. 18 on 104 Street between Jasper and 102 Avenues.

The popular downtown event will be held during the last Al Fresco on 4th farmers market and is planned to include bike parades, walking tours, design work shops, and street games.

Open Streets is put on by Paths for People, a local non-profit that works to make Edmonton’s infrastructure more accessible to those who walk and bike in the city.

In collaboration with the Edmonton Downtown Community league, Wild Heart collective, and 4thStreet Promenade, the local-non profit decided to hold a scaled back version of its’ 2019 festival.

“We’re running a taste of Open Street which is basically a smaller version of our 2019 Open Streets event,” explained Stephen Raitz, chair of Paths for People.

During the summer of 2019, the Open Street festival saw more than 20,000 patrons.

Raitz says the event introduced many Edmontonians to local businesses.

“We surveyed many people who participated and found out that more than 90 per cent of them got connected with a local business that they had not known about before.”

The event was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, but organizers say this year’s festival will allow for people to be a safe distance from each other.

“I think Edmontonians recognize that we’re always trying to find ways to make our city more vibrant, more livable, (with) more things to do, and this a really great way to re-imagine space that just typically gets used as a thoroughfare for cars, and turn it into a big public park almost,” said Raitz.

The festival will run between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

EDMONTON — Wood Buffalo RCMP are seeking the public’s assistance after finding a 56-year-old woman with injuries on the side of a road along the North Parsons overpass on ramp from Highway 63 north.

Mounties say they received a report of an injured female on Aug. 31., around 6:30 a.m.

The female victim, from the Wood Buffalo area, was taken by ambulance to hospital for medical treatment.

Wood Buffalo RCMP are asking the public for dash camera or surveillance footage recording anything suspicious in the area between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Wood Buffalo General Investigation Section (GIS) has taken over the ongoing investigation. 

EDMONTON — Alberta’s COVID-19 cabinet committee met on Thursday as the province added more than 1,300 new cases and hospitalizations nearly reached 500.

It’s unclear what the committee discussed or whether the government will introduce new restrictions. Premier Jason Kenney, who has not been seen publicly or taken questions from reporters since Aug. 9, appeared on a Facebook Live Wednesday night, where he said officials would give a COVID-19 update this week.

On Facebook Live, journalists are unable to challenge the premier’s statements, and a communications expert explained to CTV News it’s a controlled environment where his staff can screen the public’s questions.

“The questions might not be any easier on Facebook Live, but it does give them an opportunity to select the hard questions that they are the most prepared for,” said Chris Henderson from Y Station Communications and Research.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro has not held a press conference since late July, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw last spoke with reporters on Aug. 13.

Even when there are press conferences, reporters are limited to a question and a follow-up — a pandemic practice that began when journalists could only asks questions on the phone, but stayed when in-person availabilities returned.

It’s also now commonplace to receive a written statement when CTV News asks for an on-camera interview with government MLAs.

On Thursday, CTV News requested interviews with all 25 ministers and associate ministers in Kenney’s cabinet. It received response from four of their press secretaries but none agreed to an interview.