Alberta's Official Opposition said Tuesday that the provincial government must "do more" as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Edmonton and Calgary.
© Credit: Alberta NDP NDP Leader Rachel Notley on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020.
There are currently 4,477 active cases in the province; of those, there are 1,549 in the Calgary zone and the Edmonton zone has 2,179.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley outlined six "non-restrictive" measures, including halting the layoffs of 11,000 health-care workers and increasing the number of contact tracers, that the Opposition believes the government should immediately implement to help control the situation in Alberta.
"These are six proactive steps that the government can take today," Notley said.
"They don't need to restrict the lives or livelihoods of Albertans in taking these steps. In fact, they reduce the chance of economic restrictions going further."
Measures the NDP pushed for also include having a faster turnaround time for test results, implementing the national COVID-19 tracing app, introducing a COVID-19 risk index for businesses and setting out a provincial staffing strategy for continuing care facilities.
"The provincial government must do more," Notley said. "We believe that [Premier] Jason Kenney is not living up to his own personal responsibility as premier."
The office of the premier declined to comment on the NDP's demands when asked by Global News Tuesday.
Read more: ‘Alberta, we have a challenge’: 7 deaths, 1,440 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Alberta since Friday
Notley made the demands at a news conference Tuesday, saying she believes Kenney is "failing to take action that will help keep Alberta's economy open."
Notley said that the 11,000 layoffs planned by the government create "chaos in the hospitals where they work because he is prepping to cut their salaries, eliminate their pensions, and in many cases, fire them."
Those layoffs led to a mass of health-care workers marching across the province Monday, but they are now back to work after the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled they acted illegally when walking off the job.
Read more: Labour board calls Alberta hospital staff walkout illegal, orders picketers back to work
With faster test results, the NDP wants the government to publicly report wait time estimates and increase the number of contract tracers available in the province.
On Monday, Alberta's chief medical officer of health said the province currently has 800 contract tracers but is working to increase that number.
"AHS is increasing their staffing as quickly as possible, and they are actively recruiting more people to meet these increasing demands," Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.
Read more: AHS actively recruiting more contact tracers as COVID-19 cases in Alberta climb
Notley said she believes contract tracing is key for slowing the spread of the virus.
"Albertans who have not been informed that they've been exposed to somebody with COVID are still walking around, potentially spreading the infection," Notley said.
The NDP said the provincial government also needs to step up and get Albertans access to the national tracing app, which is currently available in eight provinces.
The UCP had said in August the province would be switching over but it has still not launched.
Read more: Alberta will switch over to national coronavirus tracing app
"It is really unacceptable that almost three months have gone by since the Alberta government agreed to adopt this national tracing app... but just can't make it work when eight other provinces already can and already have," Notley said.
Another demand the NDP wants is a COVID-19 risk index to be launched that would tell businesses the level of risk they face while open amid the pandemic.
Notley also called for a provincial staffing strategy for continuing care facilities, saying that outbreaks at these spots could lead to a "collapse in staffing levels" as employees face the risk of getting sick.
Hinshaw said Monday it’s important to find the balance between introducing restrictions that slow the spread of COVID-19 and preventing Albertans from being negatively impacted in other ways.
Also Monday, the province announced it was restricting gathering sizes in Edmonton and Calgary to 15, except for weddings, funerals and structured gathering places like restaurants, theatres and places of worship.
--With files from The Canadian Press and Kirby Bourne, Global News
There are currently 4,477 active cases in the province; of those, there are 1,549 in the Calgary zone and the Edmonton zone has 2,179.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley outlined six "non-restrictive" measures, including halting the layoffs of 11,000 health-care workers and increasing the number of contact tracers, that the Opposition believes the government should immediately implement to help control the situation in Alberta.
"These are six proactive steps that the government can take today," Notley said.
"They don't need to restrict the lives or livelihoods of Albertans in taking these steps. In fact, they reduce the chance of economic restrictions going further."
Measures the NDP pushed for also include having a faster turnaround time for test results, implementing the national COVID-19 tracing app, introducing a COVID-19 risk index for businesses and setting out a provincial staffing strategy for continuing care facilities.
"The provincial government must do more," Notley said. "We believe that [Premier] Jason Kenney is not living up to his own personal responsibility as premier."
The office of the premier declined to comment on the NDP's demands when asked by Global News Tuesday.
Read more: ‘Alberta, we have a challenge’: 7 deaths, 1,440 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Alberta since Friday
Notley made the demands at a news conference Tuesday, saying she believes Kenney is "failing to take action that will help keep Alberta's economy open."
Notley said that the 11,000 layoffs planned by the government create "chaos in the hospitals where they work because he is prepping to cut their salaries, eliminate their pensions, and in many cases, fire them."
Those layoffs led to a mass of health-care workers marching across the province Monday, but they are now back to work after the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled they acted illegally when walking off the job.
Read more: Labour board calls Alberta hospital staff walkout illegal, orders picketers back to work
With faster test results, the NDP wants the government to publicly report wait time estimates and increase the number of contract tracers available in the province.
On Monday, Alberta's chief medical officer of health said the province currently has 800 contract tracers but is working to increase that number.
"AHS is increasing their staffing as quickly as possible, and they are actively recruiting more people to meet these increasing demands," Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.
Read more: AHS actively recruiting more contact tracers as COVID-19 cases in Alberta climb
Notley said she believes contract tracing is key for slowing the spread of the virus.
"Albertans who have not been informed that they've been exposed to somebody with COVID are still walking around, potentially spreading the infection," Notley said.
The NDP said the provincial government also needs to step up and get Albertans access to the national tracing app, which is currently available in eight provinces.
The UCP had said in August the province would be switching over but it has still not launched.
Read more: Alberta will switch over to national coronavirus tracing app
"It is really unacceptable that almost three months have gone by since the Alberta government agreed to adopt this national tracing app... but just can't make it work when eight other provinces already can and already have," Notley said.
Another demand the NDP wants is a COVID-19 risk index to be launched that would tell businesses the level of risk they face while open amid the pandemic.
Notley also called for a provincial staffing strategy for continuing care facilities, saying that outbreaks at these spots could lead to a "collapse in staffing levels" as employees face the risk of getting sick.
Hinshaw said Monday it’s important to find the balance between introducing restrictions that slow the spread of COVID-19 and preventing Albertans from being negatively impacted in other ways.
Also Monday, the province announced it was restricting gathering sizes in Edmonton and Calgary to 15, except for weddings, funerals and structured gathering places like restaurants, theatres and places of worship.
--With files from The Canadian Press and Kirby Bourne, Global News
Alberta NDP asks province to hire 1,300 contact tracers, speed up testing to slow spread of COVID-19
Lauren Boothby
Lauren Boothby
© Provided by Edmonton Journal NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks on suggested measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020.
Faster test results and hiring more than 1,300 contact tracers are two of six new measures the NDP wants to see the UCP government introduce to limit the spread of COVID-19, Leader Rachel Notley said Tuesday.
The NDP is also asking the provincial government to make the national COVID-19 contact-tracing app operational in Alberta, create a COVID-19 risk index for businesses to plan relaunch strategies, develop and publish a provincial staffing plan for continuing care facilities, cancel plans to cut 11,000 Alberta Health Services jobs , as well as report the COVID-19 test turnaround times publicly.
Following two consecutive days with more than 500 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and new mandatory social gathering limits in Edmonton and Calgary, Notley said Alberta’s current trajectory could bring in a more “extreme, limiting scenario” if the government doesn’t act.
“We heard Dr. Hinshaw talk about entering the ‘danger zone’ and crossing what she refers to as the ‘tipping point.’ … We believe that Jason Kenney is not living up to his own personal responsibility as premier, which is to keep Albertans safe, and we worry that he is sleepwalking his way into this second wave of the pandemic,” she said at a Tuesday news conference.
As to whether a provincial mask-wearing mandate is a good idea, she said it’s not necessary yet, although masks are “critically important.”
She said she doesn’t want to see another lockdown and the way to avoid this is to take the pandemic seriously.
“We don’t want to see closures, we don’t want to see jobs impacted. I think that if we had more contact tracers, and if we were able to have faster turnaround on testing, we’d have a better idea of where to take targeted action,” she said.
During question period Tuesday, Notley asked Health Minister Tyler Shandro if he would implement the recommendations. He said, “I suppose their answer is to shout at me to do more of what I’m already doing.”
Shandro said Alberta has the “best testing program in Canada” and the turnaround time is two to four days.
“They called on more contact tracers to be hired. Pre-pandemic we had 50 contact tracers, and now there’s over 800, and we’re hiring more every day.”
As for the risk index for businesses, he said Alberta has the most transparent approach in Canada. He also did not back down from plans to cut 11,000 AHS jobs, the majority of which are non-clinical jobs, although changes will lead to 800 clinical jobs being lost through attrition.
On Monday , chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw introduced new temporary, mandatory measures for Edmonton and Calgary as cases continue to rise.
The measures, which will be re-evaluated in one month, limit social gatherings to a maximum of 15 people where people would be “mixing and mingling,” Hinshaw said. This includes events like parties and receptions. The same limits do not apply to structured events like eating in restaurants, worship services, wedding and funeral ceremonies, conferences and trade shows.
The mandatory rules follow recent voluntary measures including reducing the number of “cohorts” you interact with to three. Cohorts — also called “bubbles” or “circles” — are a small group of people you can interact with regularly without keeping two metres of distance.
The three cohorts include your immediate household, school, and one other social or sports group. People in these cohorts should limit close contact with people outside their cohorts.
There were 422 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Alberta on Tuesday.
Faster test results and hiring more than 1,300 contact tracers are two of six new measures the NDP wants to see the UCP government introduce to limit the spread of COVID-19, Leader Rachel Notley said Tuesday.
The NDP is also asking the provincial government to make the national COVID-19 contact-tracing app operational in Alberta, create a COVID-19 risk index for businesses to plan relaunch strategies, develop and publish a provincial staffing plan for continuing care facilities, cancel plans to cut 11,000 Alberta Health Services jobs , as well as report the COVID-19 test turnaround times publicly.
Following two consecutive days with more than 500 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and new mandatory social gathering limits in Edmonton and Calgary, Notley said Alberta’s current trajectory could bring in a more “extreme, limiting scenario” if the government doesn’t act.
“We heard Dr. Hinshaw talk about entering the ‘danger zone’ and crossing what she refers to as the ‘tipping point.’ … We believe that Jason Kenney is not living up to his own personal responsibility as premier, which is to keep Albertans safe, and we worry that he is sleepwalking his way into this second wave of the pandemic,” she said at a Tuesday news conference.
As to whether a provincial mask-wearing mandate is a good idea, she said it’s not necessary yet, although masks are “critically important.”
She said she doesn’t want to see another lockdown and the way to avoid this is to take the pandemic seriously.
“We don’t want to see closures, we don’t want to see jobs impacted. I think that if we had more contact tracers, and if we were able to have faster turnaround on testing, we’d have a better idea of where to take targeted action,” she said.
During question period Tuesday, Notley asked Health Minister Tyler Shandro if he would implement the recommendations. He said, “I suppose their answer is to shout at me to do more of what I’m already doing.”
Shandro said Alberta has the “best testing program in Canada” and the turnaround time is two to four days.
“They called on more contact tracers to be hired. Pre-pandemic we had 50 contact tracers, and now there’s over 800, and we’re hiring more every day.”
As for the risk index for businesses, he said Alberta has the most transparent approach in Canada. He also did not back down from plans to cut 11,000 AHS jobs, the majority of which are non-clinical jobs, although changes will lead to 800 clinical jobs being lost through attrition.
On Monday , chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw introduced new temporary, mandatory measures for Edmonton and Calgary as cases continue to rise.
The measures, which will be re-evaluated in one month, limit social gatherings to a maximum of 15 people where people would be “mixing and mingling,” Hinshaw said. This includes events like parties and receptions. The same limits do not apply to structured events like eating in restaurants, worship services, wedding and funeral ceremonies, conferences and trade shows.
The mandatory rules follow recent voluntary measures including reducing the number of “cohorts” you interact with to three. Cohorts — also called “bubbles” or “circles” — are a small group of people you can interact with regularly without keeping two metres of distance.
The three cohorts include your immediate household, school, and one other social or sports group. People in these cohorts should limit close contact with people outside their cohorts.
There were 422 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Alberta on Tuesday.
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