The Alberta government is walking back its decision to eliminate isolation requirements for people who test positive for COVID-19 after weeks of pressure from local leaders, physicians and families.
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Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, said the government will also extend a masking mandate for public transit and continue testing and tracing as cases spike.
All public health restrictions were scheduled to lift on Monday, but will now stay in place for another six weeks.
"We are not going backwards. We are pausing to monitor and assess before taking a step forward,” Hinshaw said Friday.
"If monitoring confirms our original expectations that a rise in cases will not lead to high levels of hospitalizations and we do not see evidence of increased risk for severe disease for children, we will proceed with implementing this next set of changes after Sept. 27."
Hinshaw said an unexpected rise in hospitalizations and emerging data from the United States on pediatric cases linked to the highly contagious Delta variant are reasons for the pause.
Based on internal modelling, Hinshaw said they expected 90 cases in hospital at this time compared with the 143 people currently in hospital — an increase of 62 per cent.
Hinshaw said the initial plan to remove all public health restriction was partly based on evidence from the United Kingdom on the Delta variant, but emerging evidence from the United States shows different outcomes.
"In the U.S., unfortunately, hospitalizations in children have started to rise, most significantly in states with lower overall immunization rates," said Hinshaw, comparing the rates in the United States with the U.K.
"It seems most likely that the reason for the difference between these two settings is the level of adult immunization, which is protective for children by reduced household and other community transmission."
Alberta's adult vaccination rate falls between that of the United Kingdom and poorly performing U.S. states, she said.
Many in the province have expressed concerns about children returning to classrooms in September, especially since those under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
"I want to further monitor these trends," said Hinshaw. "I do not share this information to cause alarm.
"To date, we have not seen a similar rise in severe cases in youth here in Alberta. Since July 1, we have only had seven cases in hospital under the age of 18."
Critics of the province's plan have drawn attention to Alberta's limited number of pediatric intensive care beds and the potential for young Albertans to develop serious illnesses such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, severe COVID-19 pneumonia and long-haul COVID-19 effects.
Alberta currently has the highest active COVID-19 case count in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2021.
Alanna Smith, The Canadian Pres
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, said the government will also extend a masking mandate for public transit and continue testing and tracing as cases spike.
All public health restrictions were scheduled to lift on Monday, but will now stay in place for another six weeks.
"We are not going backwards. We are pausing to monitor and assess before taking a step forward,” Hinshaw said Friday.
"If monitoring confirms our original expectations that a rise in cases will not lead to high levels of hospitalizations and we do not see evidence of increased risk for severe disease for children, we will proceed with implementing this next set of changes after Sept. 27."
Hinshaw said an unexpected rise in hospitalizations and emerging data from the United States on pediatric cases linked to the highly contagious Delta variant are reasons for the pause.
Based on internal modelling, Hinshaw said they expected 90 cases in hospital at this time compared with the 143 people currently in hospital — an increase of 62 per cent.
Hinshaw said the initial plan to remove all public health restriction was partly based on evidence from the United Kingdom on the Delta variant, but emerging evidence from the United States shows different outcomes.
"In the U.S., unfortunately, hospitalizations in children have started to rise, most significantly in states with lower overall immunization rates," said Hinshaw, comparing the rates in the United States with the U.K.
"It seems most likely that the reason for the difference between these two settings is the level of adult immunization, which is protective for children by reduced household and other community transmission."
Alberta's adult vaccination rate falls between that of the United Kingdom and poorly performing U.S. states, she said.
Many in the province have expressed concerns about children returning to classrooms in September, especially since those under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
"I want to further monitor these trends," said Hinshaw. "I do not share this information to cause alarm.
"To date, we have not seen a similar rise in severe cases in youth here in Alberta. Since July 1, we have only had seven cases in hospital under the age of 18."
Critics of the province's plan have drawn attention to Alberta's limited number of pediatric intensive care beds and the potential for young Albertans to develop serious illnesses such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, severe COVID-19 pneumonia and long-haul COVID-19 effects.
Alberta currently has the highest active COVID-19 case count in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2021.
Alanna Smith, The Canadian Pres
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