Dr. Peter Brindley, an ICU doctor at the University of Alberta Hospital, said health-care professionals are taking the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic one day at a time.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw told a town hall that the information that explains why the province is shifting away from testing, tracing and isolating was not yet ready to be released.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw held a town hall with physicians and pharmacists on Wednesday night. Several hundred health-care professionals were in attendance.
More than 15 per cent of new COVID-19 cases in Alberta are in fully vaccinated people, but experts say that number is nothing to be alarmed about.
Alberta has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country. As of Sunday, just under 68 per cent of the eligible population in the province was fully vaccinated.
There are a range of ideas to boost rates, ranging from vaccine passports to battling misinformation to leaning on family doctors’ relationships with patients.
On Wednesday, it was announced Canada is getting a vaccine passport for international travel, which could also be used as domestic proof of vaccination.
Alberta will be adjusting to new COVID-19 protocols on Monday, but there are concerns about what those changes could mean for the numbers of those living with long COVID.
The letter is signed by healthcare professionals who say they are expressing their “professional concerns that the risk of the COVID-19 Delta variant should not be underestimated.”
Alberta will be winding down mass coronavirus testing this month, and there are worries over the future of COVID-19 data in the province.
Three-quarters of eligible Albertans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and some are wondering whether to take an antibody test to verify they have protection.
Leisure international travellers will be allowed in starting Sept. 7, if they have been vaccinated with one of the four vaccines approved by Health Canada.
Kerry Bowman, a professor of bioethics and global health at the University of Toronto, said variation of vaccination policies in different countries is ‘very, very problematic.’
As of Monday, 74.8 per cent of those eligible have received one dose of vaccine; 59.7 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated.
Right now, any Albertan with symptoms, who is a close contact or is connected to an outbreak can get tested for COVID-19 at assessment centres across the province.