CALGARY -- Jasmine Bazalka says enforcing the rules at the gym where she works can be tough, particularly when the rules keep changing.
“I find there isn’t that much clarification for us,” said Bazalka, who manages the Southland location of World Gym. “So we're trying to make up a lot under the (provincial) guidance and then trying to get the public to go along (with it).”
Bazalka said some clients are either unaware of the rules or choose not to follow them - that’s a growing concern across Alberta as the numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise to ever-higher levels.
Some experts fear the government’s public projections for COVID-19 last spring, which dramatically over-estimated the potential number of cases and deaths facing Albertans may have cost it credibility, prompting some people to tune out now, even as the numbers are once again spiralling upward.
“I’m not sure it resonated with me back then," said Dr. Terry Williamson, a bio-statistician at the University of Calgary, “It’s prove it didn’t happen the way they thought it would.”
In April, the UCP government outlined its best-and-worst case scenarios for the impact COVID-19 would have on the province.
In its “probable” scenario, the province predicted that somewhere between 400 and 3100 Albertans would die before the summer because of the virus.
As of right now, nearly eight months later, fewer than 400 have died.
Authorities also said to expect 800,000 infections whereas now, the number hovers around 40,000 or around five per cent of their initial projection.
Williamson said the science behind the projections is sound but people did have to realize that data doesn’t take human behaviour into account, which can shift the numbers dramatically.
Calgary’s mayor said even though the health authorities' grim predictions in the spring didn’t come true, he’s not letting his guard down.
“I would prefer to say we did a good job and got nowhere near the best case or worst case scenarios,” said Naheed Nenshi. “But i have to say, they are a still a real possibility.”
