Women of ABpoli: Hot Flashes - Issue #9
This Week in AB
Local docs, researchers fill void left by absent premier, health minister, and CMOH
Until the unexpected press conference by the premier, health minister and chief medical officer of health on Friday, Albertans had been asking for information as no provincial updates had been given since the week before all testing, tracing, and isolating, was scheduled to end on August 16.
Dr. Joe Vipond began hosting a series of live updates with fellow doctors, researchers, and other advocates for a safe, evidence-based plan for Alberta this week.
Covid plans?
UCP Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf said on Aug 27 that he was hopeful cases would continue to rise among the unvaccinated. Neudorf later clarified that they hoped the spike would fall just as dramatically as it rose, as it did in the U.K..
Slightly revised plans
Jason Kenney has reinstated a province-wide mask mandate (schools exempt) that goes into effect on September 4, 2021 at 8am. Liquor sales will cease at 10pm, but establishments can remain open afterwards. Oh, and our ICU’s reached 95% capacity across the province, 97% in Edmonton.
On Saturday, rodeo events began announcing they had received exemptions from Alberta Health for cabarets and beer gardens, and then Pride events wanted in as well.
Alberta Health said exemptions were allowed for annual events on a case-by-case basis if they were beneficial to local economies. Alberta Health didn't add whether the increased case numbers that have followed all annual events held in the province this summer also provided benefit to local economies.
From our healthcare staff:
Also, stop taking de-wormer for farm animals
Alberta feed stores are running out of the animal de-wormer Ivermectin as the armchair medical practitioners stock up to fight Covid infections. Health Canada, the CDC, and veterinarians all say people should not take the paste, which is meant for farm animals.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who is 54, announced recently that he tested positive for Covid and said Ivermectin is one of the things he's taken to get back to feeling "good". Awesome.
Vaccine passports for the win?
B.C. and Ontario both saw large increases in vaccine appointments after they announced incoming “vaccine passport” systems. According to a new poll by Leger, the idea has around 77 per cent support in Alberta.
As mentioned earlier, Alberta has decided to try a softer touch of just offering people a pre-loaded debit card of $100 if they get their shot now. Too many parents have picked up on the fact that the ones who didn't do what they were asked are now being rewarded and those who did have a liquor curfew. It just doesn't make sense...
However, there is some good news
Women of ABpoli is returning next week!!
We’ll be sitting down with former Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, and Dr. Krista Robson from Red Deer College to talk about public policy responses to crime in the province, and we’ll hear from Dr. Gosia Gasperowicz and Dr. Lorian Hardcastle from the University of Calgary with an analysis of provincial Covid policy over the past year and a half. Woot woot!
Canada
There’s still a federal election going on
Things are not looking good for the Liberals. They’re not in 1993 Progressive Conservative territory, but their support no longer seems to be as strong as it was in the spring. We'll come back to that as E-day closes in upon us.
The World
Texas bans most abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy
I don’t know who needs to hear this but, the only rights we have are the ones the law-makers deign to allow us.
The new ban “bars state officials from enforcing it, and instead deputizes private individuals to sue anyone who performs the procedure or ‘aids and abets’ it”, including “doctors, staff, counselors, anyone who helps pay for the procedure, and even an Uber driver taking a patient to an abortion clinic”, according to the New York Times.
Laundry List: GoA Press Releases
Spin Cycle
August 31 is Overdose Awareness Day. It’s also the four-month anniversary of the UCP’s decision to close the Boyle Street safe consumption site in Edmonton, and the one-year anniversary of defunding ARCHES safe consumption site in Lethbridge.
The UCP government is creating jobs. The new roles will task staff with locating Albertans struggling with addictions in “city parks, shelters, hospital emergency rooms, city jails and correctional facilities”. If only there was a space where people could congregate and get access to people and resources that could help them.
Internet savvy Albertans battling addiction can use the new Recovery Access Alberta website to help them “find addiction-related programs and services to meet their specific needs.”
New opportunities to obtain “micro-credentials” to access those big opportunities that the UCP hopes will present themselves sometime after graduation, and the pandemic, but before the next election. And if the cost of post-secondary was a financial barrier before, the UCP announced more cuts in budget 2021 – but, hey; they already have their six-figure jobs.
People need people who are willing to work for free when the government fails to meet their commitments. Nominate someone in your community, like the volunteers with Protect our Province who have stepped up to offer Covid analysis to help Albertans through a pandemic while Alberta Premier Jason Kenney tries to avoid being 2021’s “stinking albatross” around the CPC’s neck.
Third doses of mRNA vaccines will be available starting September 1 for seniors in congregate facilities, immunocompromised, as well as those who are travelling to a jurisdiction that only recognizes mRNA vaccines. Health Minister Tyler Shandro says his government “remains committed to protecting Albertans from COVID-19” but not from people who refuse to get vaccinated.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange would like to “assure Albertans that the safety of students and staff remains (her government’s) No. 1 priority”, and they “will follow the expert advice of the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw.” Therefore, if it doing nothing doesn’t work out, the fault lies with Dr. Hinshaw.
If people can’t act responsibly, the government will step in - if they are making unsafe U-turns, that is.
Rinse and Repeat
Finance Minister Travis Toews says “Alberta’s economy is already witnessing signs of recovery and growth” and therefore “indicates Alberta’s Recovery Plan is working” (for the entire country). The UCP hopes to bring Alberta’s unemployment rate down to 2017 levels, and expects non-energy investment to grow during the remainder of 2021. Having hospitals overwhelmed with Covid patients, reducing access to surgeries, and pushing the province's healthcare system to the brink should absolutely help lure investment to the province.
70% of eligible Albertans have now received both doses of the Covid vaccine. Unfortunately, in order to curb a fourth wave, we needed upwards of 90%. Whoops.
Delicates
A new app is available to Calgarians who use opioids or other substances alone at home. DORS (Digital Overdose Response System) will be monitored by STARS and will send EMS if the user is unresponsive to a set timer. The app is expected to be available in Edmonton by the end of September.
Investigation continues into RCMP officer-involved shooting causing injury.
Albertans who want to know more about the province’s environmental enforcement record can now access the files for free online.
Investigation continues into CPS officer-involved shooting that did not cause injury.
Last Load
After two months of cowboy cosplay and UCP fundraisers, September celebrates Alberta’s diversity with Culture Days. It is also the “Month of the Artist”, Arthritis Awareness Month, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Month, and Recovery Month.
September 1 is “Alberta Day”, according to Kenney. It was a quiet one, this year, for some reason.
Another $1 million dollar prize has been awarded to someone who did the right thing and got vaccinated. There’s also a scam email going around saying you won and to click a link. Don’t click that – the government is contacting people directly about their prizes.
Cover photo credit: @ABpressreleases - follow for bitter truth bombs.