The head of Alberta Health Services defended the agency’s contact-tracing system Tuesday after a Global News investigation on a backlog of cases during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Internal AHS documents obtained by Global News revealed the extent of the growing backlog of cases for contact tracers during the second wave and that its workforce was insufficient to keep up with soaring case numbers.
Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request quantify, for the first time, how overwhelmed contact tracers were in November and December, and reveal that the backlog of cases to be traced grew to 23,527 on Dec. 11, 2020; it also uncovered that there were insufficient numbers of contact tracers working during the second wave, including a shortage of 2,020 on Dec. 7, 2020.
Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of AHS, responded to “suggestions AHS failed to prioritize contact tracing as a key tool in its pandemic response” with:
“Nothing could be further from the truth.”
She said Tuesday that since the start of the pandemic, AHS identified contact tracing as a “vital way to track community spread,” track transmission and protect Albertans.
“Contact tracing has been one of the cornerstones in our pandemic response, but it has always been one cornerstone. Contact tracing by itself does not bring down case numbers,” Yiu said.
However, experts have said that Albertans who did not know they were a close contact did not isolate and may have been spreading the virus unknowingly in the community.
COVID-19 testing, PPE use, public health restrictions, masking, physical distancing, isolating when sick, hand washing and now, vaccines, are the most effective protection measures, Yiu said.
The challenges with the contact-tracing capacity were discussed during Monday’s question period at the Alberta legislature.
“The premier and the health minister repeatedly claimed in this house, as early as Oct. 27, that they had 800 contact tracers,” NDP leader Rachel Notley said. “Now, thanks to Global News, we have proof this wasn’t true.
“In fact, as cases exploded at the outset of the second wave, the real number was closer to 330.”