There will no longer be regular scheduled press conferences for COVID-19, Alberta’s chief medical officer said on Wednesday.
The weight of the Omicron wave has been slowly decreasing for weeks. The provincial government has changed its COVID-19 updates with Dr. Dean Hinshaw and Health Minister Jason Kopping from weekly to biweekly.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Hinshaw announced that this would be the latest regularly planned update to COVID.
“We remain committed to the transparent communication of important public health information and, of course, we will provide updates if necessary,” she said.
Alberta Health will continue to update public data on COVID-19 every week, she said.
Upcoming changes in the way public health officials monitor COVID-19, which should make things more sustainable, will hit the public data dashboard later this summer, Hinshaw said.
In the fall, Alberta Health will change its COVID reports to catch up with its on the flu board, showing how the two respiratory diseases are spreading, she added.
Stopping regular personal updates is part of that transition, Hinshaw said.
“We are entering a phase of a pandemic in which our response can be de-escalated as we remain vigilant and ready to respond to new options that could lead to a new wave of cases and hospital admissions,” Koping said on Wednesday.
Last week, Alberta lifted mandatory restrictions on public health, with the exception of some measures in Alberta’s health care facilities and other health facilities.
Public health orders for continuing care facilities will be revoked on June 30, Koping said, but protection policies will remain in place as part of operational standards.
Alberta’s health services will monitor outbreaks in higher-risk conditions and respond if necessary, he said.
Mandatory disguise in health facilities in Alberta has changed from a provincial rule to an organizational policy. (Radio Canada)
Later this summer, some AHS testing sites will be turned into buffer sites that will be integrated with other services, Koping said.
Hinshaw noted that living with COVID-19 does not mean that it is disappearing, but that the province has tools to remove restrictions on public health.
COVID-19 vaccines are one of those tools, she added. Hinshaw encouraged Albert residents to get their initial doses of vaccine (if they haven’t already) and booster doses when they qualify.
Provincial figures show the government may withdraw public health measures, said Noel Gibney, an honorary professor of critical medicine at the University of Alberta. But he hopes the restrictions will return if there is another leap caused by new options.
“Public health and medical science are telling us that this pandemic will not behave as we had hoped,” Gibney said.
Preparations for the re-imposition of restrictions will show that the Alberta government wants to maintain public safety and recognizes the tensions that hospitals have been subjected to by huge jumps, Gibney said.
He said that given the low level of testing, Alberta could be in the middle of a jump until the data show that this has happened.
Another 13 Alberts die from COVID-19
Alberta’s public health officials identified 13 more COVID-19 deaths from June 14 to 20, the last reporting week.
A total of 4,604 Alberts have died from the disease since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, there were fewer Alberts in hospital with COVID-19 than in the previous reporting week.
As of Monday, 661 people were in hospital, including 17 patients receiving critical care.
A week ago, there were 719 hospitalizations, including 19 patients in the intensive care unit.
The pass rate of the seven-day PCR test dropped to 12.32% in the last reporting week. Last week, the percentage of positive results in seven days was about 13.2%.
There were 1,086 new cases of COVID-19 identified by PCR testing in the last reporting week – almost 400 less than the previous week.
The amount of virus circulating in the community is thought to be higher, as most Albert residents do not have access to PCR tests and the data exclude positive results from the rapid test.
Of the entire population of Alberta, including those who do not qualify, 77.3% of people have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine; 81.5 percent of the population takes at least one dose.
Dr Linora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, said she was concerned that forthcoming changes to the reports could contribute to the misconception that the pandemic is over, especially given the high levels of transmission.
“A balance needs to be struck there,” Saxinger said.
“Some people say, ‘Absolutely, do the same things we did before,’ and I’m not sure that’s quite right.” On the other hand, we have people like, “It’s over, we don’t even have to think about it anymore,” and that’s not right either.
Another case of monkeypox has been identified
A new case of monkeypox has been reported in Alberta, Hinshaw said.
The man is an adult and has been linked to another case of monkeypox reported outside the province, she said, adding that the risk of infection in Alberta is low.
A total of five cases have been found in Alberta. all of those reported in the Calgary and Edmonton health zones, she said.
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