By Thomas I. Likness
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) — The military, the Red Cross and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will be sending medical staff to help out in hospitals in the western Canadian Province of Alberta that have been overwhelmed by the fourth wave of COVID-19.
The government will also require all of its 25-thousand public service workers to be vaccinated or provide regular negative test results at their own expense.
These are the latest steps the Alberta government has taken to try to manage the fourth wave.
Premier Jason Kenney, however, continues to resist pressure to bring in stricter public health measures.
“We’ll be meeting next week as cabinet but there are no other measures currently under consideration,” Kenney said Thursday. “We continue to monitor closely the trends. We want to see the impact of the measures that became effective on Monday of last week.”
The measures included mandatory masking and a vaccine passport of sorts.
Kenney claims case numbers are plateauing and pins his hopes on hospital admissions decreasing in the coming weeks.
The province has been reporting over 1,600 new cases a day — the highest in Canada.
Kenney insists vaccination is the key to defeating the fourth wave.
Hospitals could face more pressure
The extra help the province is bringing in will only provide staff for a handful ICU beds and the situation could worsen.
Hospitals are bracing for what will happen in the next few weeks as the weather turns colder and the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday weekend approaches.
As more people gather indoors and families hold holiday get-togethers, the risk of COVID-19 transmission increases.
The effects of that transmission won’t be seen until three to four weeks later.
Meanwhile the CEO of Alberta Health Services, Dr. Verna Yiu, says the fourth wave hit home for those on the front lines of hospitals today.
“Today we are saddened by the death of one of our nurses who worked in the ICU and emergency departments,” said Yiu. “My thoughts are with the family and loved ones, and with her colleagues.”
(Eagle News Service)