EDMONTON — Alberta reported 369 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday after completing more than 7,000 tests.
Active cases increased to 2,719 across the province. Hospitalizations also went up from 102 on Thursday to 113 on Friday, including 25 patients in ICU.
The province removed four deaths from its COVID-19 tally on Friday, reducing the total to 2,325.
Among eligible Albertans, 76.2 per cent have received a first dose and 66.4 per cent are fully immunized.
EDMONTON — The long-awaited review of Alberta’s first wave response tabled five recommendations to strengthen the province’s response to future waves of COVID-19 and other pandemics.
From provincial communication strategies, economic supports offered by Alberta, and health care staffing shortages, the third-party report evaluating Alberta’s response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was released Friday afternoon.
The external report was developed by accounting firm KPMG, who was awarded a $475,000-contract to complete the work. It analyzed the province’s response to the pandemic from March 2020 through to Oct. 12, 2020.
It was submitted to the province in January 2021 and released to the public a year later “in the interest of full transparency,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said on Tuesday.
The report tabled five recommendations for the province, including that once vaccine administration is “well underway” and the health emergency concluded that Alberta undertakes a full comprehensive review to ensure future pandemic responses are strengthened.
Additionally, the report said the province should conduct further stakeholder analysis to help gauge support of decision making as well as to “strengthen” the pandemic response.
According to the third-party review, the unique structure of Alberta Health Services (AHS) as the province’s health authority provided “structural advantages” during the first wave.
AHS is the largest single health authority in Canada, the report read. This allowed it better opportunities for cohesive data collection, easing patient flow and hospital capacities by discharging other patients to different facilities like long term care centres, and enabled “significant purchasing power” for personal protective equipment.
Non-urgent and elective surgeries were postponed across Canada as the health care system readied to respond to COVID-19 patients in the first wave. According to the KPMG report, the amount of surgeries performed in Alberta declined by 30 per cent – similar to other jurisdictions in Canada. Alberta managed to clear that backlog faster than other provinces the report said.
While Alberta implemented a single-site working policy to minimize spread from one facility to another like other provinces did, the report said Alberta’s policy took effect later than others.
The third recommendation included implementing strategies in Alberta to support staff capacity within the health care sector and ensure necessary flexibility to fill staffing shortages in the continuing care system.
Staffing levels during the first wave of the pandemic were comparable to those during pre-pandemic times for health care aides, licensed practical nurses, and registered nurses, the report said. The number of nurse practitioners increased by one per cent from January to July 2020.
“Based on the available data on staffing, there was a minimal to moderate impact on overall staffing levels,” the report said.
The report added that while ventilator capacity was sufficient to address COVID-19 cases, the challenge was availability of ICU beds and staff to manage them.
“The number of ICU beds and the staff needed to manage them were outnumbered by the number of ventilators.”
The independent report found uptake of provincial supports targeted at small and medium-sized businesses was low during the first wave of the pandemic. It recommended that there needs to be strategies to “increase uptake” of financial supports to help Alberta businesses adversely affected by the pandemic.
“The combination of low uptake, observable economic decline, and concern about viability of businesses going forward suggest that available funding should be maximized,” the fourth recommendation read. “This may require sector engagement and/or adjustment to thresholds.”
The economic impact of COVID-19 was “more pronounced” in Alberta due to the crash of oil prices before the pandemic and further decline during the first wave, the report said.
“Alberta’s dependence on the energy sector as a large contributor of provincial GDP, meant that it was hit harder by the oil price crash than other provinces,” the report indicated.
When it came to essential services allowed to remain open during the pandemic, the report detailed how Alberta’s definition was “broader” that other Canadian jurisdictions allowing more businesses to remain open.
However, as compared to other provinces, there was no wide variation in the amount of business closures or level of consumer spending.
“Despite keeping its economy ‘more open’ during the first wave, Alberta’s consumer spending and it’s economic decline still followed a similar trajectory to other Canadian provinces,” the report said.
“Alberta’s softer business restrictions did not stop declines in consumer spending.”
Lastly, the report recommended closer collaboration with municipalities to help better implement pandemic response measures.
“The province did not have a ready-made communications plan that was ‘fit for purpose’ for such a large-scale, sustained and Alberta-wide emergency,” the report said.
“The implementation of provincial measures could be more effective, efficient and better aligned through closer collaboration and increased two-way communication.”
The official opposition said the report demonstrated how the premier failed Albertans during the first wave.
“It is abundantly clear that Jason Kenney and the United Conservatives failed Albertans in the first wave, learned nothing from the second wave and ignored these recommendations ahead of the third wave,” NDP deputy leader Sarah Hoffman said in a statement.
“What we see in this report is that Jason Kenney was warned back in January, if not earlier, about the issues we are currently facing and despite clear recommendations, he did nothing to prevent them.”
Read the full report here:
EDMONTON — Two Edmonton Elks players tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, a day before the first game of the season.
The team confirmed the news in a media release sent Friday evening. One player is on the active roster but the other is not.
The club’s injury report lists defensive back Brian Walker as out for Saturday’s season opener against the Ottawa Redblacks due to COVID protocols. The second player affected has not been identified.
“Saturday’s game is not in question, and will be played as scheduled,” the Elks said in a statement.
“There is no concern at this time of any transmission beyond those already identified.”
The Elks said one staff member who tested negative on Thursday after a PCR test returned a positive antigen test. They are asymptomatic and are at home isolating, awaiting the results of a PCR test collected Friday, the football team added.
The rest of the team, staff, and coaches got tested again Friday morning and results are expected before Saturday.
The Elks cancelled their walkthrough and media availability Friday morning after learning of the positive tests.
The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. MST.
With files from The Canadian Press
EDMONTON — The provincial government is accusing Ottawa of “dishonest, bad-faith negotiating” when it comes to child care after it approved a subsidized day care agreement with Quebec on Thursday.
Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s minister of children’s services, said in a statement that the agreement Quebec and the federal government reached on Canada subsidized early learning and child care was unfair since Alberta made the same arrangement but was “rejected.”
“Today, we’ve learned that the federal government and Quebec have agreed to a $6-billion child care agreement without conditions,” Schulz said. “This is the exact arrangement Ottawa rejected when Alberta asked for it this week and last week.”
Quebec marked the sixth jurisdiction in Canada to agree to a subsidized child care plan with the federal government first announced in the April budget. The Liberal government pledged to lower the cost of child care by half and work toward $10-a-day spaces across the country by 2026.
Quebec will receive a transfer of about $6 billion over five years to help ensure enough spaces within the province’s subsidized daycare network.
“When we asked Ottawa if any province would receive a straight transfer of child care dollars with no conditions attached we were told no,” Schulz said.
“This is dishonest, bad-faith negotiating from Ottawa right before an election,” she added. “It’s frustrating to see Alberta parents could be left behind because of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cynical pre-election manoeuvring especially given that we are absolutely committed to affordable, accessible child care.”
The minister said Alberta has a plan that meets the needs of Alberta parents and criteria set out by the federal government.
“We call on the federal government to give Alberta a fair deal and provide full child care funding without conditions through a signed early learning and child care agreement as soon as possible,” Schulz said.
“Our economic recovery and working parents, especially women across this province, are counting on it.”
NDP critic for children’s services Rakhi Pancholi said in a statement that the party had drafted a bilateral agreement “weeks ago” that met the federal criteria.
“Instead of stepping up to support Albertans, Jason Kenney is throwing a temper tantrum as thousands of Alberta families struggle to pay their child care bills,” Pancholi said.
“The UCP are turning their nose up at $3.8 billion that could be circulating in our economy right now.”
Mikaela Harrison, press secretary for the federal ministry of families, children, and social development, told CTV News Edmonton in a statement that she was pleased Alberta was demonstrating commitment to $10-a-day child care for the “first time.”
“Our government came to the table with every province and territory as a willing partner,” Harrison said. “We have made significant progress by signing agreements with six provinces and territories.
“We are pleased to hear for the first time today that the Alberta government is now committed to $10/day or less child care for families, as well as meeting the requirement of cutting fees by half on average by next year.”
The press secretary said Ottawa is looking forward to receiving Alberta’s action plan “as soon as possible,” adding that Quebec has led the way for decades with its early learning and child care system.
“Our announcement today builds on this success to strengthen the Quebec system, and includes reporting requirements to ensure they continue to meet the objectives of affordability, accessibility, inclusivity and quality.”
CTV News Edmonton reached out to the UCP for further comment.
EDMONTON — Police closed a major commuter road in Edmonton Thursday evening after a man turned up at a busy gas station with a gunshot wound to his leg.
The man went to the Domo on St Albert Trail for help around 6 p.m.
An EPS Inspector told CTV News Edmonton at the scene that the victim was expected to survive.
Patrol officers closed St. Albert Trail north of the 118 Avenue traffic circle while a tactical team searched a nearby house for suspects.
Traffic was re-routed from the area with St. Albert Trail being completely closed north of 118 Avenue for several hours.
Police didn’t believe anyone else was injured, but they were still clearing the scene.
Carolin Maran, EPS spokesperson, told CTV News Edmonton that police were on scene responding to a “weapons complaint” in the Sherbrooke neighbourhood in the area of 119 Street and St. Albert Trail.
“Citizens are asked to avoid the area for the time being,” Maran said.
EPS said further information would be provided at a later time.
CTV News Edmonton observed tactical officers leaving the area after 7:10 p.m.