This newsletter looks back in time, so some links are to older articles.
If you prefer listening to reading, many of the following facts are summarized in this 27-minute podcast: [Front Burner] Alberta’s path to a state of
In mid-June 18, premier (premier idiot) Jason Kenney announces that, on July 1st, almost all public health measures in Alberta would be cancelled
“This is open for good, not just open for
Asked by a reporter if he had a Plan B in the event cases started to increase again, Mr. Kenney responded:
“We just don’t see that
Kenney said his government had developed
"one of the most cautious plans in the
He dismissed the possibility of a fourth wave based on the Delta variant.
"The government of Alberta is following the expert advice of our chief medical officer instead of following angry voices on Twitter."
Health experts said that the plan, being based on pre-Delta info, was risky
The government dismissed them and the media as fear-mongering
In mid-July, at the Calgary Stampede, Kenney, apparently unaware being recorded said:
"COVID is not a threat to people under 30,
However,
At least 129 people caught COVID at Calgary Stampede, 325 attended while possibly
As other provinces were preparing to bring in vaccination certification systems (passports),
Alberta will not bring in vaccine passports, premier
Like the pancakes he served at the Stampede, Kenney would eventually flip on passports
At the end of July, Alberta announced ending contact tracing and notifications to close contacts
Dr. (of wishful thinking) Hinshaw assured Albertans that a: “surge of hospitalizations and other severe outcomes is much less likely”
In a statement obviously (?) based on solid public health data, Hinshaw further said: “The significant investment in widespread contact tracing is not something we can live with for years to come”
So confident were Hinshaw and Kenney that plans were announced to end masking requirements and isolation periods for positive cases
However, by mid-August, stubborn, uncooperative data showed that cases were clearly on the increase significantly more than Hinshaw had foreseen in her mystical hand-holding séance with government officials.
She was forced to cancel the relaxation of public health measures
Yet, she insisted that there was no threat to hospital capacity.
To be fair, she qualified that statement by saying “at this time”, while not releasing the modelling upon which she was apparently
By the end of August, cases were clearly spiking
But there was no need for alarm obviously, because on Kenney’s party’s website, hats were still available proclaiming
“Best Summer Ever - Alberta
Also at this time, both Kenney and Hinshaw became unavailable (this was totally unconnected to the fortunes of the federal conservative party in the rapidly approaching federal election; how do these ideas get into people’s
However, Kenney & Hinshaw had yet to play their master hand
In early September
Kenney announced $100 for Albertans to get a vaccination. Either 1st or 2nd shot was good
There was still no way Alberta would introduce vaccine passports, but they did bring in a “restrictions exemption program (REP)”
Some might say it looks a lot like a vaccine passport
Totally coincidentally, vaccine appointments tripled after introduction of the REP non-
Unfortunately, it always takes a few weeks for changes in behaviour to be reflected in the data.
So based on the behaviours from a few weeks ago, here are recent articles.
Alberta asks Ottawa for help to airlift COVID-19 patients out of the
Alberta sees record number of ICU admissions as COVID-19 hospitalizations
Alberta's doctors are already rationing
20,040 active cases on Friday — more than twice as many as any other province or
But at least everyone has learned their lessons, right? Well…