Doctors say COVID-19 cases are spreading rapidly in Alberta, putting strain on hospitals. Chelan Skulski has the details.
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High-risk Albertans urged to get another vaccine dose as COVID-19 cases ticking up
After trending downward for several months, COVID-19 is on the upswing in Alberta once again.
The province’s respiratory virus dashboard shows a number of key indicators, including case counts, hospitalization numbers and positivity rates, are ticking up.
“Many jurisdictions in Canada have seen a slight bump in late April in the number of COVID cases, the positivity rate and also in their wastewater monitoring,” said Dr. Dan Gregson, an infectious diseases specialist in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
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Confirmed case of measles in Edmonton, AHS warns of public exposure
Alberta Health Services is warning the public that an individual with lab-confirmed measles has been in public settings in Edmonton while infectious.
In a Wednesday news release, officials sent out a list of locations and times of when the infected person was out in public and said residents who were at any of the locations during the specified dates and times may have been exposed to measles:
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Edmonton judges dismiss appeal by parents; Alberta school boards may not enforce their own masking mandates
A panel of Alberta appeals court judges has dismissed an appeal by parents of five immunocompromised Alberta kids.
Lawyers for the families, known only by initials, had argued the children’s Charter rights were violated in 2022 when the province stopped masking requirements and barred school boards from enforcing their own masking mandates.
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Alberta’s Secret Pandemic Study Is Led by COVID Restrictions’ Critic
When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith mused in the midst of the debate over her government’s new funding turf war with Ottawa that “we could also establish our own research programs” to ensure ideological balance in academic research, many Albertans suspected they understood precisely what she had in mind.
They thought the United Conservative Party’s Bill 18 is about more than just keeping the Trudeau government from getting credit for helping Alberta municipalities, starved for cash by her government’s policies, and Alberta students and researchers who qualify for federal grants. The so-called Provincial Priorities Act, many also thought, was intended to ensure that what research gets done in Alberta reinforces the UCP’s ideological preferences for unbridled markets and climate change denialism and against vaccines and effective public health measures.
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‘Contrarian’ doctor a good choice to lead COVID-19 data review, Alberta premier says
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says it’s a good idea to have a physician who accused the province of exaggerating COVID-19’s impact on hospitals now lead a review of pandemic-era health data.
Smith says Dr. Gary Davidson was selected to lead the data review because she wants to hear a range of viewpoints, including from those “shouted down in the public sphere.”
Continue reading‘Contrarian’ doctor a good choice to lead COVID-19 data review, Alberta premier says
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Alberta scientists band together to shift climate change focus to health impacts
Bodies and minds are just as affected by climate change as sea ice and forests, says University of Alberta scientist Sherilee Harper.
“Climate change impacts everything we care about,” she said. “It’s not just an environmental issue.”
That’s why Harper, along with 30 or so colleagues from disciplines as wide-ranging as economics and epidemiology, have banded together into what she calls Canada’s first university hub to shift the view of climate change from an environmental problem to a threat to human health.
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Canada heading toward major measles outbreak without vaccine boost, new modelling suggests
As measles cases keep appearing in more parts of the country, new projections suggest there’s a high chance Canada may experience a “sizable outbreak” — with anywhere from dozens to thousands of people infected if the disease strikes communities with low vaccination rates.
As of Friday, at least 31 cases of measles have been reported so far this year across Canada, according to a CBC News tally of provincial and regional figures released by public health teams.
That’s already the largest annual total since 2019 and more than double the number of cases reported last year, as medical experts fear the number will rise while more Canadians travel in and out of the country this month for March break.
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Fall COVID-19 vaccine cut illness risk by half overall
The fall COVID-19 vaccine cut the risk of COVID-19 illness by about half overall, and by 67 per cent for those with a previous infection, according to new research from the Canadian network that has long tracked the performance of the annual flu shot.
This is the first time the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network, which is comprised of hundreds of primary care providers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, produced mid-season estimates of the effectiveness of immunization against COVID-19.
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Latest COVID-19 variant wrestles its way to the top in Alberta
A new COVID-19 variant appears to be on its way to taking over in Alberta, with one expert predicting it likely already accounts for the lion’s share of the province’s cases.
JN.1 is an offshoot of BA.2.86, which has evolved, like many of its predecessors, to better evade our immune defences.
It is now the dominant strain in Canada. Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows it accounted for about 66 per cent of COVID-19 cases nationwide by the end of December.
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Albertans can now book appointments for the updated Novavax vaccine
A limited supply of the updated Novavax vaccine is rolling out in Alberta this week with appointment booking starting Wednesday and shots going into arms as of Friday.
Alberta Health said it has approximately 5,000 doses of the Novavax XBB.1.5 vaccine in stock.
The latest version of the protein-based vaccine was approved by Health Canada in early December.
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An Alberta New Year’s Wish for a Working Public Health System
When approving the advertising campaign, the government’s revisions “included the removal of details about vaccine eligibility, immunization locations by age group and the types of vaccines being offered and their efficacy against different strains of COVID-19 and influenza. Two lines that encouraged Albertans to book vaccination appointments were also deleted.”
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Alberta’s COVID death toll up by 36 since last week, with 177 more hospitalizations
Another 36 Albertans have died from COVID, according to the latest weekly data released by the province on Thursday.
That brings the death toll for the current season to 306.
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Hospital surge beds added as pressure grows in Alberta’s intensive care units
Alberta hospitals are squeezing in extra intensive care unit beds as respiratory virus cases balloon and ICUs fill up.
Alberta Health Services has added 17 adult surge beds since last week — 12 in Edmonton and 5 in Calgary— bringing the total to 240.
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COVID, flu vaccine uptake low in Alberta heading into holiday season
With vaccination numbers lagging and the holiday season approaching, health experts are calling on Albertans to roll up their sleeves for their flu and COVID-19 shots.
As of Nov. 25, 17 people in Alberta had died of the flu during this respiratory virus season, and close to 500 were hospitalized, according to provincial data. In the same time frame, 245 deaths and almost 2,300 hospitalizations were tied to COVID-19.
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Alberta’s new COVID stats page can be confusing. Here are the key numbers — and what they mean
Alberta’s new respiratory virus dashboard provides weekly updates on the spread of COVID‑19 in the province, but making sense of the numbers can be a challenge — and it’s particularly difficult to figure out how many people have died.
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Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre adopts masking directive to curb COVID-19 infections
Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre is one of the latest hospitals to adopt Alberta Health Service’s mask directive to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Masking is now required for Peter Lougheed Centre’s staff, physicians, volunteers, contracted service providers and laboratory workers in patient-facing areas of the hospital.
Continue readingCalgary’s Peter Lougheed Centre adopts masking directive to curb COVID-19 infections
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Preston Manning’s Prescription for a Pandemic Disaster
The right-wing godfather’s Alberta government report promotes politicians over scientists and doctors.
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