Shandro accuses federal health minister of 'playing politics' after letter expressing concern over Alberta’s end to health measures
Federal health minister Patty Hajdu is adding her name to the growing list of health officials around the world concerned with health measures, meant to curb the spread of COVID-19, coming to an end in Alberta on August 16th.
In a letter addressed to Alberta health minister Tyler Shandro, Hadju asked for more clarification to better understand the rationale behind the decision.
That prompted a reaction from Alberta health minister Tyler Shandro via social media Thursday where he defended Dr. Hinshaw and questioned Hadju's motivations for writing the letter.
In a series of tweets, Shandro said “Dr Hinshaw and her team’s sensible recommendations on moving to the next phase of COVID-19 adaptation are in line with the science”. He also criticized Hajdu for playing politics and failing to send a letter to Saskatchewan when both provinces have similar approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 TESTING SET TO END
In less than two weeks, most testing, tracing and isolating will end. Masks will also no longer be required on public transit and in schools.
Hajdu said she agrees with the Canadian Paediatric Society, calling the decision an “unnecessary and risky gamble” that could “worsen the spread of the virus and put children at risk."
Furthermore, she said the most recent modelling for Alberta shows “a potentially more serious resurgence in cases in the coming weeks and months fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant”.
Alberta announced around 400 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, the highest total since the start of June.
DOCTORS SOUND ALARMS
Doctors have been sounding the alarm over the province’s decision, wanting it repealed as Alberta enters a fourth wave.
“We are setting ourselves up for a very significant outbreak in September into October and none of this needs to happen,” said Dr. Noel Gibney, Co-chair on the Strategic COVID-19 Pandemic Committee.
Its members also wrote a letter to Premier Jason Kenney, calling for public health measures to stay in place until vaccines are available for children under 12, at least 85 per cent of the province has been fully vaccinated and when Health Canada declares the pandemic to be over.
TRAVELLERS MIXED ON LIFTING RESTRICTIONS
Cases continue to surge in Alberta, doubling in the last week, but travellers CTV News spoke to Thursday were mixed on the lifting of restrictions.
“I’ve had my second shot,” said Rusty Robinson.
“It’s time to start living. We can’t stretch this out much longer. It’s time to start living.”
Reuben Sweeney from Cold Lake also said he’s not concerned.
“I don’t have a whole lot of thoughts on that but to me I’m not worried about it," Sweeney said.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw already apologized in an op-ed for causing confusion but continues to defend the province’s decision.
“Again, as I said earlier, we know that case, identification, contact tracing, has only identified a small proportion of our overall cases,” she said.
“We're not eliminating COVID-19, we're not going to get rid of it. So how do we continue to respect it to mitigate the worst outcomes, and again, to make sure that people have access to vaccines and who know that this is our best path forward?”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.