'Never say never': Alberta health minister says future COVID-19 restrictions can't be ruled out
Bill Kaufmann - Calgary Herald
While he’s confident Alberta’s current defences against COVID-19 will hold, the government would consider additional measures if confronted with a major flare-up, Health Minister Jason Copping said Friday.
NOT ACCORDING TO HIS BOSS
Health Minister Jason Copping says Alberta's health system has been strained by the pandemic, but the provincial government is working to make it stronger. ROFLMAO
Health Minister Jason Copping says Alberta's health system has been strained by the pandemic, but the provincial government is working to make it stronger. ROFLMAO
Copping, who retained his portfolio in Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet that was announced Friday, defended his government’s intention of immediately and dramatically reforming Alberta Health Services despite the medical system’s current struggles.
And he said the party is eager for a general election mandate for the new premier.
But for now, he said the trajectory of the deadly virus suggests defences in place are sufficient to keep it under control and from overwhelming the health-care system.
“Each successive wave is less severe . . . With the tools we have in place, we are going to be able to manage what comes at us next,” said Copping.
Smith has said that under her government, there will be no going back to restrictions that included vaccine passports and mandates, and limits on businesses or places of worship.
But Copping said if a severe unforeseen surge in COVID-19 changes the public safety equation, some measures could be taken.
“You can never say never. If something comes at us we’ll have to look at it and say, ‘OK, what additional tools we may need to put in place at that point in time,’ ” he said.
“But we are going to be focused on supporting Albertans through this as we actually go through wave to wave with as little impact as possible on people.”
In the early summer of 2021, then-premier Jason Kenney insisted COVID-19 restrictions were finished, only to introduce so-called vaccine passports in the fall of that year.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have recently been climbing, with 1,070 people admitted with the illness as of earlier this week. The average monthly figure is larger than the past two pandemic Octobers.
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Numbers of ICU patients have also been rising, but not as quickly, and this week sat at 33.
Copping said he’s not concerned with Smith’s determination to prevent vaccine mandates by outlawing what she calls discrimination against non-immunized Albertans in provincial human-rights legislation.
Some medical experts say that sends the wrong message on the importance of vaccines and could potentially undermine long-standing vaccine mandates meant to control a host of other illnesses in schools, health care and other settings.
Staff prepare supplies at the pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Village Square Leisure Centre on June 6, 2021.© Gavin Young/Postmedia
But Copping said such legislation would work apart from the clinical realm where the government will still encourage vaccinations, noting the Pfizer bivalent booster will become available in Alberta on Monday.
“We as a government have indicated and maintained a policy choice is important and have also urged people to get vaccines, and we’re going to continue to do both things,” he said.
“That’s a separate issue in terms of choice, we still need to focus on continuing to support Albertans through endemic plans and vaccines are an important part of it.”
During his time as health minister, Copping and other government officials emphasized the value of vaccines in reducing levels of severe illness and preventing the health-care system from collapsing.
But that promotion of vaccines has notably slackened, said Lorian Hardcastle, associate professor specializing in health law and policy at the University of Calgary.
“The messaging has really changed — (Copping) really isn’t pushing for vaccines and the premier is almost discouraging it,” said Hardcastle.
But she said having flexibility on future COVID-19 policy makes sense both practically and politically.
In a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Smith reiterated her vow to overhaul the AHS , accusing it of failing to provide sufficient beds during the pandemic and for critically undermining staffing levels by previously requiring employees be vaccinated for COVID-19.
That will include replacing the chief medical officer of health with an advisory panel and dismissing the AHS’s governing board, while admitting health-care delivery “will be bumpy for the next 90 days” of the rapid change of course.
She said the health-care reboot posed a “perilous” political risk, but one that had to be taken.
When asked if such a rapid reboot risks increasing chaos in a system now under siege with lengthening wait times — and with one Edmonton emergency physician telling CTV News that patients have died in waiting rooms — Copping said that what he’s heard from those working inside it during a four-month consultative process is that quick change is needed.
“The key messages we received in this tour is we need to do more to support (health-care workers),” he said.
“There’s a recognition that we need to do things differently, so I’m really looking forward to working with the premier and setting in place a thoughtful implementation plan, not only integrating what we’re already doing but what else can we can do to ensure our front-line workers have the tools as we move forward.”
He also said that, despite Smith not having been elected by Albertans provincewide, the government has a mandate and an obligation to move swiftly on health-care reform.
“We need to deliver health care, we’ve heard loud and clear from Albertans,” said Copping.
That will mean injecting additional funding, including $600 million in each of the coming few years and an altered governance structure reflecting a change in the culture of AHS, said Copping.
That’ll also likely include contracting out more services paid for out of the public purse outside of hospitals to the private sector.
That policy, he said, is showing promise in reducing wait times and saving money, particularly with cataract surgeries.
“We’re actually leveraging the private sector now . . . We are going to continue to focus on how do we support our public health-care system and leverage our private sector so, yes, we’ll continue to do that,” said Copping.
“We have two requests for proposals out in the South and Central Zones.”
A key to strengthening the health-care system, he said, is bolstering staffing levels, something that is already underway with fast-tracking educational output and the qualification for international doctors and nurses.
Health-care providers and the Opposition NDP have raised the alarm over what they call an exodus of physicians in rural areas and a resulting curtailment of services.
“We fully recognize there’s a need for staffing, particularly in rural areas,” said Copping.
“I can tell you AHS is hiring 1,800 more employees this year alone . . . there’s more plans coming.”
The U of C’s Hardcastle said there’s reason to be concerned that the planned breakneck pace of reform could compound problems facing AHS.
“Everybody recognizes there are issues with health care, but is rapid, destabilizing change a way to do that? You risk more turmoil,” she said.
Copping, UCP MLA for Calgary-Varsity, took over as health minister 13 months ago after a stint as labour and immigration minister.
The health-care portfolio, particularly now, is seen by many as the most challenging and potentially politically crippling one in the provincial government.
But Copping said he welcomes his extended responsibility.
“I am pleased the premier has asked me to stay in this role,” he said.
“I’m excited to work with the premier on her ideas . . . how do we deliver health-care services Albertans deserve and, frankly, need. ”
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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