COVID LIVES ON SURFACES

Inflatable costume linked to Covid-19 outbreak at California hospital that infected 44

Jose Martinez Jan 04 2021

GETTY/MICHELE LAPINI
Air-powered costumes have been banned from the Kaiser Permanente San Jose emergency room after an incident that may have infected 44 people with Covid-19.

A hospital in California suspects that an inflatable costume may be behind a massive Covid-19 outbreak that has infected at least 44 employees, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center employee briefly wore the air-powered costume in the emergency room on Christmas Day to "lift the spirits" of fellow co-workers, but may have unknowingly spread the virus throughout the facility.

"Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent, and quite accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around them during what is a very stressful time," the hospital said in a statement.

"If anything, this should serve as a very real reminder that the virus is widespread, and often without symptoms, and we must all be vigilant," the statement continued.

The emergency room has since undergone a deep cleaning, and all employees who have tested positive between December 27 and New Year's Day are being required to isolate. Kaiser Permanente San Jose is still conducting contact tracing to determine who else may have been exposed.

While the hospital had administered the Covid-19 vaccine to some emergency room workers prior to Christmas Day, the first dose doesn't reach its full potential until the second shot is given. Even then, none of the approved vaccines are 100 per cent effective against preventing someone from catching the virus.

It may go without saying, but air-powered costumes have been banned from the Kaiser Permanente San Jose emergency room.

California has the most coronavirus cases in the United States with 2.4 million reported. Over 26,000 people in the state have died from the virus.

VACCINATION DOES NOT ELIMINATE MASK WEARING

Hundreds of people in Israel contracted Covid-19 days after receiving their first vaccination dose, highlighting the risks of shunning safety measures when not fully inoculated.

The country has been held as the benchmark for how to deliver a vaccine quickly and effectively, with more than 10 per cent of its nine million population immunised at widespread vaccine delivery hubs.

More than a million people in Israel have received the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, one of the vaccines available in Dubai, since December 19.

UAE residents should continue to be cautious even if they have had the vaccine
Dr Amaka Uzu

Despite that, a small percentage to have received the first dose went on to contract the virus as antibodies can take weeks to develop.

With a similar population number to the UAE, lessons learned from Israel could be applied here to ensure similar coverage is achieved while precautionary measures are maintained.

“Even if someone has taken the vaccination, they should remember it is not a guarantee they are immune,” said Dr Amaka Uzu, a family medicine consultant at Bareen International Hospital, Abu Dhabi.

“My advice for UAE residents is to continue to be cautious.”

She was quick to stress that the immunisation process is not complete until both doses of the vaccination have been taken.

“After the first dose, a second is required to complete the immunisation process,” said Dr Uzu, who is awaiting a second shot of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine offered in Abu Dhabi.

“However, people must continue to wear masks, keep socially distant and maintain good hand hygiene, even if they have had the vaccination.”

Dubai Health Authority said residents who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must still take PCR tests when required, such as for travel purposes; practise social distancing and continue to wear face masks if mandated.

Officials warned members of the public not to delay or miss their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. The injections are intended to be taken 21 days apart.
Israel leads the way in global inoculation drive

Israel has the world’s highest vaccination rate. Health authorities there report 12.59 vaccination doses per 100 people, compared to 3.53 in Bahrain and 1.39 in the UK.

By comparison, France has vaccinated only 352 people by the end of 2020, according to the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data website.

In the US, a target of immunising 20 million people by December 31 fell well short, with only4.23 million being vaccinated by January 2.

Most receiving the jab in Israel are aged 60 or above, a demographic at risk of more severe symptoms that has been given priority.

Since the vaccination programme launched, clinics there have administered about 150,000 jabs a day.

By law, all Israelis must register with a recognised healthcare provider, which then contacts people according to priority.

Research showed protection against Covid-19 can take up to 10 days to develop after the first dose is administered, but even then it reaches only about 50 per cent effectiveness.

READ MORE


   

Long Covid: what is POTS and could it help us better treat suffering virus survivors?

Explained: full guide to Dubai's Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine campaign

Sinopharm vaccine roll-out: UAE frontline medics relieved after months of uncertainty

While the vast majority of Israelis to receive a jab reported no problems, about one in 1,000 experienced mild side effects such as weakness, dizziness or fever.

Only 51 people required any form of medical attention.

Health authorities in the country said 319 people reported feeling slightly unwell, with 293 more reporting localised symptoms at the injection site, such as pain, restricted movement, redness or swelling.

State broadcaster Kan reported four people died shortly after receiving the vaccine, but three of those were of unrelated causes.

The fourth case, an 88-year-old man with serious health complications, is currently under investigation by Israel’s Health Ministry.

So far, the UAE has identified 213,231 coronavirus infections, including with 189,709 recoveries and 679 deaths.

The vaccine is expected to be rolled out to all age groups once people in the essential categories have been vaccinated. EPA

Bushmeat Now Legally On Sale in Tanzania

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The Tanzanian government has approved the sale, under strict guidelines. This follows an order by President John Magufuli that game meat-selling points be opened across the country to curb illegal hunting. Besides maintaining the overall cleanliness of the selling facilities, operators will be required to issue electronic receipts to buyers showing the source of the meat. Operators will need to slaughter animals at a licensed meat abattoir and surrender any "trophies", including skull and skin unless they have a trophy ownership certificate. Butchers will be subjected to constant scrutiny by a ministerial committee that will include veterinarians and meat inspectors. During the Ebola outbreak that ravaged many West African countries in 2012, the World Health Organization warned communities against eating bushmeat, which was thought to have been the main carrier of the virus at the time.

• Tanzania:  Bushmeat Now On Sale Legally in Tanzania

  EAST AFRICAN, 30 DECEMBER 2020

  

  The Tanzania government has started the sale of bushmeat to the public under strict rules. This follows President John Magufuli's order to authorities early this year to open game… Read more »

• Tanzania:  First Bushmeat Butchery Opened in Dodoma

  DAILY NEWS, 21 DECEMBER 2020

  THE long awaited moment finally arrived yesterday after the first bushmeat butchery opened in Dodoma, with authorities insisting on strengthening measures to curb poaching. Read more »

• Tanzania:  Bushmeat From Mara-Serengenti Could Kill You, Experts Now Warn

  EAST AFRICAN, 12 MARCH 2020

  Go slow on game meat from animals hunted at the Mara-Serengeti wildlife ecosystem, researchers studying incidents of wildlife diseases warn. Read more »

• West Africa:  Ebola - Softly, Softly On Bush Meat

  UNIRIN, 1 AUGUST 2014

  Medical teams struggling to curb Ebola in West Africa have been discouraging bush meat consumption, believed to have caused the outbreak, but some rural communities dependent on… Read more »

InFocus

• Tanzania Set to Establish Special Butcheries for Bushmeat

  

  The move is aimed at enabling Tanzanians to harvest wild animals for selling and consumption, Tourism Minister Hamisi Kigwangalla has said. The ministry is in the process of ... Read more »

  • Tanzania:Bushmeat Now to Be Sold in Butcheries
  • Tanzania:Tanzania Set to Establish Special Butcheries for Game Meat

• Congo-Kinshasa: Bushmeat Blamed for Ebola Outbreak

  

  The World Health Organization is warning residents in Orentale Province to avoid the consumption of bushmeat in the face of a deadly outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Read more »

  • Congo-Kinshasa:Bushmeat Blamed for Ebola Outbreak
  • Congo-Kinshasa:Uganda Sends Medical Help Over Ebola

ThisIsNotAGame

This Is Not A Game is a social marketing campaign from WCP | Wildlife Crime Prevention working in partnership with the Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife. It is the culmination of years of scientific work to better understand the illegal bushmeat trade in Zambia and its impacts on both people and wildlife.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BUSHMEAT (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ZOONOSIS (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

Nigeria: Fishermen Threaten Showdown Over Shell's Failure to Pay $3.6bn Bonga Spill Fine


Amnesty International
Pastor Christian Lekoya Kpandei's hand covered in oily mud, Bodo Creek, in 2011. His fish farm once provided a living for about 30 families. Its collapse forced him to move to a single-room apartment, to pull his youngest child out of school and left him with no regular source of income.

4 JANUARY 2021
This Day (Lagos)By Onungwe Obe


Fishermen from the Niger Delta region operating under the auspices of Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN) have urged the federal government to prevail on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) Limited to pay the $3.6 billion fine imposed by the oil industry regulators over the 2011 Bonga oilfield spill or face a showdown.

The fishermen also demanded that the federal government compensate them for shutting down their trade during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, saying they were yet to recover from the impact of the lockdown on the fisheries sector, as they were excluded from the palliatives given to the agriculture sector during the lockdown.

The Coordinator of ARFAN in the Niger Delta region, Rev. Samuel Ayadi, told journalists in Yenagoa yesterday that another lockdown following the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic would be unbearable for fishermen.



Ayadi said fishermen suffered seriously since 2011 when an equipment failure from the Bonga offshore field operated by SNEPC discharged some 40,000 barrels of crude into the water.

"On December 20, 2011, during loading of crude oil at Bonga fields within OML 118 situated at 120 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline, the export line ruptured and discharged crude oil into the sea," he stated.

The export line, according to a Joint Investigation Report by National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and SNEPCO, spewed about 40,000 barrels (6.4 million litres) of crude oil into the sea.



Ayadi, therefore, appealed to the federal government to prevail on Shell to pay the NOSDRA imposed fine for the oil spill so that fishermen who lost their occupation can recover from the effect.

He said fishermen complied with the order by NOSDRA that they should pull out of the sea to avoid having contaminated catch while the cleanup lasted, and therefore deserve to be indemnified from their losses.

NOSDRA had in March 2015 imposed the fine on Shell for discharging 40,000 barrels of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean on December 20, 2011.

The fine comprised $1.8 billion as compensation for the damages done to natural resources and consequential loss of income by the affected shoreline communities as well as a punitive damage of $1.8billion.

However, Shell lost its bid to cancel the fine, when a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Mojisola Olatoregun on June 20, 2018, dismissed the suit it filed against NOSDRA.




Read the original article on This Day.

The priest, the engineer and the economist

By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights
December 27, 2020


I was exchanging economist jokes over the holiday and heard this one that seemed apropos both to our resource predicament and the seeming abundance of the holiday season:

A priest, an engineer and an economist were stranded together on a desert island. Given their location, fish seemed to be a logical source of food. So, they discussed how to get some. The priest said that the three of them should pray. The engineer said he thought a better approach would be to fashion a net from materials on the island. The priest and the engineer then turned to the economist for his input. With his hand on his chin, the economist thought for a moment and then looked up and said, “Assume a fish.”

That joke neatly summarizes the problem with the vast majority of economic thinking today. Much of that thinking rests on something called the Cobb-Douglas function which has three terms:


Total production = Labor input X Capital input

What is so obviously missing, of course, are physical resources. Hence, “assume a fish” illustrates the slight of hand which most economists perform when referring to the physical world.

In fact, most economic growth projections simply forecast a certain expected (higher) level of demand for goods and services and then assume that the physical resources to meet that demand will appear. Which reminds me of a quote I shared over Christmas dinner that comes to us from economist John Kenneth Galbraith:

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.

And, I am reminded of yet another quotation attributed to economist Herbert Stein:

If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.

So, the real question is when. When will economic growth come to a halt because limits have arrived? It may be difficult to know that this is happening because the main method we use to measure growth—gross domestic product—is imprecise and includes all sorts of questionable elements such as growth in the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and the resulting growth in greenhouse gas emissions, growth in the production and release of toxic chemicals, growth in convenience foods laced with many of those chemicals and devoid of good nutrition, and the enormous amounts of money spent on health care (really illness care) in most wealthy nations rather than the promotion of wellness. GDP is simply a tally of total economic activity. It makes no distinction between activities which degrade our well-being and those that promote it.

Economic growth as growth in the use of resources and in the waste products which result cannot go on forever. Limits to Growth produced a very rough picture of the future of economic growth and resource use that pointed to problems emerging right about now.

And, there has been persistent concern about low economic growth worldwide in the last decade. Will similar concerns remain and even deepen as we move out of the pandemic-induced economic slump we have faced?

Writer Gail Tverberg recently provided a list of reasons that economic growth may elude the world as a whole in the coming years. Many of those reasons echo the ones found in Limits to Growth.

In recent conversations with a colleague at the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy I was reminded of Herman Daly, the dean of the steady-state economists, who writes in his seminal essay Economics in a Full World that:


Even trying to define sustainability in terms of constant GDP is problematic because GDP conflates qualitative improvement (development) with quantitative increase (growth). The sustainable economy must at some point stop growing, but it need not stop developing. There is no reason to limit the qualitative improvement in design of products, which can increase GDP without increasing the amount of resources used. The main idea behind sustainability is to shift the path of progress from growth, which is not sustainable, toward development, which presumably is.

There are certainly many intangibles which we can also continuously develop such as the arts, our spiritual lives, and our personal relationships. It is that kind of development which comes to view more prominently during holidays that emphasize the oneness of all human beings.

As difficult as 2020 has been, it could be for some, if not for all, a springboard to vast positive personal and social transformation. Such a process would be aided by less focus on “more” and greater focus on “better.”

Image: Ceiling painting (detail: female allegory of abundance with wreath of grain ears and the Brandenburg eagle), Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erhebung_des_Gro%C3%9Fen_Kurf%C3%BCrsten_in_den_Olymp_(van_Loo)_-_weibliche_Allegorie_mit_%C3%84hrenkranz_und_dem_brandenburgischen_Adler.jpg

Solar now ‘cheapest electricity in history’:

 How much will it matter?

By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights
January 3, 2021


The InternationalEnergy Agency (IEA), the Paris-based consortium of 30 countries, has told us in its flagship World Energy Outlook 2020 that solar-produced electricity is now the “cheapest electricity in history.” That seems like very good news, that is, until the actual expected impact of that fact is examined more closely.

For those who are concerned about climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electric generation, it is certainly good news—but not quite good enough to make a dent in fossil fuel emissions.

Setting aside any concerns about critical materials needed to make the solar revolution reach completion, it may surprise many readers of the “cheapest electricity in history” headline that growth in solar energy will likely NOT lead to a reduction of fossil fuel burning anytime soon. In fact, the IEA’s main forecast has natural gas consumption growing by 30 percent through 2040 while oil consumption levels off but does not decline. Coal use does continue to decline as a share of total energy.

With solar energy and other renewables expected to grow so much by 2040, how can this be so? The answer is that what the IEA calls non-hydro renewables (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass) will provide 80 percent of the INCREASE in expected global electricity demand. That means that the fossil fuel electricity infrastructure will continue to grow and that existing plants will remain in place rather than be supplanted by renewables.

Of course, for the part of the economy that runs on liquid fuels including transportation and many industrial processes requiring high heat, more renewable electricity doesn’t make much of a dent in fossil fuel use. Even where transportation is being electrified, the growth in internal combustion engine vehicles continues to dwarf those running on electricity. And then there is the existing fleet of fossil-fueled vehicles on the road. Is it realistic to expect all or most will be replaced by electric vehicles when these existing vehicles are junked?

The IEA’s main scenario is better than if all the increase in energy demand were met by fossil fuels. But as the IEA admits, under this scenario our climate change problem continues to worsen. The agency does outline scenarios in which fossil fuel use would drop and renewables would expand more robustly. But these are all outside current policy. Clearly, the agency believes there will be some policy movement, and it is actually pleading for that movement with its scenarios.

The sparkling future promised to us by the promoters of green energy most often assumes that we have far more time to make the transition than we do. And, it assumes that we can scale renewables to the level of energy consumption we have today and larger in the future. Even those who are touting energy conservation and efficiency are generally not suggesting that the global economy dramatically reduce its energy consumption. But reducing energy use seems to me to be the fastest, surest path forward for a stable economy, society and climate.

As we start the new year and people across the world pray for a return to the economy of 2019, it seems like a fool’s errand to insist that going back to 2019 only puts us on a calamitous and unsustainable path all over again. But I believe the fools are on the other side when they insist that doing more of what we’ve done in the past will solve our central problems including climate change.

Image: Solar power generation by Mouchot in Algeria (1882) 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ROYAUMONT_Mouchot.png

“Augustin Mouchot (7 April 1825 – 4 October 1912) was a 19th-century French inventor of the earliest solar-powered engine, converting solar energy into mechanical steam power.” 

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Mouchot )

​Greta Thunberg Mocks Conspiracy Theorist Trolls In 18th Birthday Post

JESS HARDIMAN  Sunday 03 January 2021 

Greta Thunberg has taken a swipe at conspiracy theorists in a social media post marking her 18th birthday, sharing a photo of herself wearing a 'Flat Mars Society' top while giving two thumbs up to the camera.

Thunberg, who turned 18 today, thanked fans for their birthday wishes, before joking that she'd be popping down to her local boozer to chat conspiracy theories.

"Thank you so much for all the well-wishes on my 18th birthday!" she wrote.

"Tonight you will find me down at the local pub exposing all the dark secrets behind the climate - and school strike conspiracy and my evil handlers who can no longer control me! I am free at last!!"

One person said her post was 'brilliant', adding: "The conspiracy theories about you are hilarious. I'm glad you can see the funny side of it all, rather than letting it stop you. Most of them are ableist because they think your autism stops you from being able to think for yourself, but they're obviously wrong."

Someone else wrote: "You are WONDERFUL Greta! A fantastic tweet."

In an interview with the Sunday Times to mark her birthday, the climate change activist revealed that she asks to borrow clothes from friends if they have garments they don't need anymore, rather than purchase something brand new.

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Credit: PA

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Greta Thunberg Says She'll Never Buy New Clothes Again


She told the publication: "I don't need new clothes. I know people who have clothes, so I would ask them if I could borrow them or if they have something they don't need anymore.

"The worst-case scenario, I guess I'll buy second-hand."

While Thunberg said she's made many changes to her life, she added that she didn't judge others who lived differently to her - though understood why celebrities could come under fire for apparent hypocrisy.

She said: "I'm not telling anyone else what to do, but there is a risk when you are vocal about these things and don't practise as you preach, then you will become criticised for that and what you are saying won't be taken seriously."

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg Says She’s Attacked By Trump & Putin Because They’re ‘Desperate’ Not To Address Climate Crisis

While Greta Thunberg has been hailed as a hero by many, the Swedish climate change activist been demonized by right-wing climate change deniers — including such world leaders as President Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro.

© Provided by ET Canada AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Thunberg — who turned 18 on Jan. 3 — said that she sees those personal attacks for what they are.

“If you actually start thinking about where you are and what is being said about you and how much focus you are getting, you would develop a self-image that wouldn’t be very sane,” she explained.

RELATED: Greta Thunberg Says Pandemic ‘Has Shone A Light’ On Importance Of Science To Stop The Climate Crisis

“Since people are so desperate not to talk at any cost about the climate crisis, they are going to try to do everything to distract," she continued.

"Instead of speaking about the climate crisis they are going to try to make this a debate about me or my personality or my appearance or my parents or my sister or whatever, so you just have to come to terms with that very early on,” Thunberg added.

During the interview, she addressed the results of November's presidential election and President-elect Joe Biden's pledge to take action to battle climate change.

RELATED: Greta Thunberg Throws Shade At Donald Trump Using His Own Words

“Of course it will mean a change, mainly because it is one and not the other in charge,” she said, but warned against complacency.

“But just because of that shift we shouldn’t be relaxing and thinking everything is all right now,” she cautioned.

'Traitors': Critics slam GOP senators' 'pathetic' attempt to undermine Biden's election victory

Image via Screengrab.

Julia Conley and Common Dreams January 03, 2021

Eleven Republican senators and senators-elect drew accusations of "sedition" and "treason" on Saturday and Sunday when they released a statement announcing they will join Sen. Josh Hawley in contesting the presidential election results on Wednesday, when Congress meets to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led his colleagues in releasing the statement, in which the lawmakers said they're being driven not by the belief that they can actually overturn the election results and deny Biden the presidency, but by a desire to make sure Americans who don't believe President Donald Trump lost the election are heard.

The senators cited one poll showing that 40% of Americans believe the election was fraudulent—a belief that has persisted as Trump, supported by numerous members of his party, has refused to concede and has spread baseless misinformation about the results.

Days after Hawley announced he plans to reject the election results in some states won by Biden, Cruz was joined by Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), James Lankford (Okla.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Neely Kennedy (La.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), and Mike Braun (Ind.), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) in supporting the effort.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted that 140 Republican House members are joining the senators and called the attempt to undermine the nation's democracy "sad and tragic."

"From the beginning of his campaign for president, Donald Trump has shown a profound disrespect for the institutions of democracy," Sanders said in a statement. "It is pathetic that 13 of my colleagues in the Senate and 140 members of the House of Representatives are now demonstrating a similar disdain for the American people by engaging in a dead-end, unconstitutional effort to overturn the will of voters.

Despite the fact that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declared the election "the most secure in American history"—a statement which was followed by Trump's firing of director Christopher Krebs—the senators in their Saturday statement said that "Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states."

As Sanders noted, dozens of attempts by Trump and members of the Republican Party have failed to convince state and federal courts of any wrongdoing in states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The U.S. Supreme Court has also declined to take up two cases claiming election fraud.

"In the two months since the election, more than 80 judges, including some who were appointed by the president, have rejected Donald Trump and his allies' attempts to overturn the election," the senator said. "There are no cases pending that will have any impact on the results. There have been numerous recounts, audits and verifications, including in the most closely contested states."

Despite the lack of evidence to support the Republicans' claim that another audit is needed, the fact that the senators and members of the House are challenging the electoral college results in certain states will require both the House and the Senate to debate the results of each state in question, and vote on the contest. The certification of Biden's victory could be delayed by several hours, but because Democrats control the House and a number of Republicans have rejected Cruz and Hawley's efforts, the president-elect is ultimately expected to be certified as the winner this week.

On CNN Sunday morning, anchor Jake Tapper said he had invited all the senators planning to challenge the election results to appear on "State of the Union," but that all declined to be interviewed about their decision to join Hawley's effort.

"It all recalls what Ulysses Grant wrote in 1861: There are two parties now, traitors and patriots," Tapper said.

Beto O'Rourke, who challenged Cruz in the senator's re-election campaign in 2018, accused his former opponent of "sedition" and wrote that while Cruz likely knows "the current attempt will fail, it will now be much more likely that a future one will succeed."

Republicans including Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) have publicly denounced their colleagues' efforts in recent days, seeking to distance themselves from the electoral challenge.

Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, questioned the integrity of those lawmakers on Sunday.

"If you're a senator who has to issue a statement condemning the large-scale and multi-front effort of your party to destroy democracy, isn't it time to rethink your support for that party?" Shaub tweeted.

'A very bad example': Alberta ER doc slams politicians' international travel

Paige Parsons CBC

An Edmonton emergency room doctor says revelations that provincial MLAs travelled internationally over the holidays leave her disappointed, frustrated and angry. 

"I think it sends a terrible message. I think it sets a very bad example," said Dr. Shazma Mithani in an interview with CBC News Network on Sunday.

"It also completely trivializes and dismisses the public health roles that my colleagues and I have fought so hard to get out there, that Dr. Hinshaw has put so much work and effort getting together."

Both the Government of Alberta and the federal government have advised Canadians against non-essential travel out of the country until further notice. 

All international travellers must isolate for 14 days upon returning to the province unless they are participating in the international border testing pilot.

"When people in positions of power are disregarding these rules and these suggestions and trying to bend the rules in their favour it sends a terrible example to the rest of Albertans to follow those rules," Mithani said. 

Mithani is a spokesperson for the emergency medicine section of the Alberta Medical Association but she was not speaking on behalf of the organization Sunday.

 

CBC has confirmed that six UCP MLAs travelled out of the country over the holidays.

Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard travelled to Hawaii.

Calgary-Klein MLA Jeremy Nixon travelled to Hawaii.

Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir travelled to Las Vegas.

Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan travelled to Arizona.

Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pat Rehn travelled to Mexico.

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao is still in Mexico.

On Friday, after news of Allard's travel broke, Premier Jason Kenney said multiple MLAs and UCP staff had travelled for the holidays, but did not say how many. He said Allard was the only cabinet minister who left the country. 

Kenney also confirmed that his chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay, travelled to the United Kingdom and returned to Canada via the United States on Boxing Day. Several days prior, Canada halted flights from the United Kingdom where a new strain of coronavirus emerged. The current suspension is in effect until Jan. 6. 

Kenney said he was not happy to learn about the travel, but said he would not discipline the MLAs or staff for taking trips. On Friday, he issued a directive that going forward, members of the government are not to travel internationally unless it's on government business. He said he takes responsibility for not having previously made it clear to senior members of government that they should not travel internationally given their position of public trust.

Last week in Ontario, Rod Philips resigned as the province's finance minister around 48 hours after his trip to the Caribbean was made public. Premier Doug Ford said he was extremely disappointed in Phillips for travelling abroad, and said the resignation demonstrated his government's commitment to holding itself to a higher standard.

Both Ford and Kenney said they did not know about their cabinet ministers' plans to travel abroad.

Allard apologized for the trip on Friday, calling it a "lapse in judgement." 

On Sunday, a banner reading "Welcome Home #AlohaAllard" was hung between two Christmas trees outside Allard's constituency office in Grande Prairie, Alta.

The lei-festooned display was put up by Aaron Penson, who is the president of the Alberta Party's Grande Prairie Constituency Association. He worked on the display with Todd Russell, a former Alberta NDP candidate. Penson said he wanted to put it up as a concerned citizen.

Pictures of the display were shared on social media by MyGrandePrairieNow.com.

"I think the message is that Albertans are furious," he said. 

"When our supposed leaders are skirting the rules, travelling on technicalities, claiming family traditional vacations are essential travel — yeah, we're angry and I was looking for a way to display that," he said.

He said they put up the display as a way to give people a "therapeutic" way to get their frustration and anger out by writing cards about the family traditions they have missed out on themselves and hanging them on the display.

Penson said he and Russell met around 7 a.m. Sunday morning to get the display up as the sun came up. Then they posted about it on social media and encouraged people to come check it out for themselves and add Christmas cards.

He said he hopes Allard takes responsibility and resigns, but said he doesn't expect that will happen. 

By 3 p.m. Sunday, the banner and trees had been removed.

 

Travel not limited to MLAs

Provincial officials weren't the only Alberta politicians who travelled over the holidays.

Calgary-Signal Hill Conservative MP Ron Liepert travelled twice to Palm Desert, Calif., since March, his office confirmed Saturday, and St. Albert. Coun. Sheena Hughes travelled to Mexico.

In a statement Sunday, St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said she was aware of Hughes' trip and was disappointed by her choice but did not express those concerns. She said in hindsight she should have made her concerns known.

"Councillors do not work for the mayor, and therefore I had no authority to limit her travel or ask that she stay in Alberta. Likewise, while many may feel her decision was in poor taste, she has not broken any laws that I'm aware of. Therefore, there's no basis for council to vote to sanction her," Heron wrote.

Mithani said Sunday that the multiple accounts of politicians travelling is upsetting for her colleagues who are feeling strain under the weight of increasing COVID-19 cases in hospitals.

"People are still coming in very sick with COVID-19, and we are really starting to be profoundly affected by that in our healthcare system," she said. "All of the ICUs in the province are overflowing, they've taken over other parts of the hospital, our COVID units are overflowing, and now our emergency departments are really having challenges getting patients in because the other units are full.

"We're all very frustrated to see this complete disregard for public health measures in the face of us fighting one of the hardest battles of our career.