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With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.
What’s happening now
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My COVID Story: How have you been impacted by coronavirus?
Postmedia is looking to speak with people who may have been impacted by COVID-19 here in Alberta. Have you undergone a travel-related quarantine? Have you received your vaccine, and if so did you feel any side effects? Have you changed your life for the better because of the pandemic? Send us an email at reply@calgaryherald.com to tell us your experience, or send us a message via this form.
Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.
More than 350 Calgary pharmacies now offering COVID-19 vaccine
There are now 354 pharmacies offering the COVID-19 vaccine in Calgary. Although the government said on Monday that “select” pharmacies are taking (AstraZeneca) walk-ins for those aged 55-64, it’s likely best to call ahead. Before booking, go to the Alberta government website to find out when you’re eligible for your free vaccination. More details on booking an appointment at a pharmacy can be found at Alberta Blue Cross.
One arrested for mischief, obstruction after GraceLife Church fence pulled down last Sunday
One person has been arrested for mischief and obstruction outside GraceLife Church in Parkland County.
On Sunday at about 10 a.m., Parkland RCMP identified a person outside the church as someone who was involved with the mischief and obstruction to the fence erected around the perimeter of the property on April 11.
Read more.
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Banff council declines bringing COVID-19 rapid-testing pilot to town
Banff will not pilot a municipality-wide COVID-19 rapid-testing program after the town’s council voted against the proposal 4–3 on April 12.
Mayor Karen Sorenson, who voted against the proposal, argued that while the program had merit, it carried a prohibitive cost and administration oversight, citing additional jurisdictional concerns.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s the municipality’s job, and frankly, with credit to our local community, it’s not their job either,” Sorenson said.
The pilot testing project, brought forward by the Rapid Test and Trace Canada group and costing $363,000, would have lasted 90 days. It would have created capacity to test about 10 per cent of Banff’s population using rapid tests each day, with the goal of administering frequent voluntary tests and catching asymptomatic cases early.
As of Saturday, Banff was among Alberta’s hotspots for COVID-19 infections, with more contagious variants driving spread. On a per-capita basis, it ranked eighth province-wide, with 713.7 active cases per 100,000 residents. The tourist town saw a similar outbreak during the pandemic’s second wave.
Coun. Peter Poole voted for the pilot, saying the benefits of widespread, routine testing made the price tag worth consideration.
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Alberta cancer patients seek second COVID-19 vaccine dose within recommended window
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Cancer patients in Alberta are calling on the provincial government to ensure they get their second dose of the vaccine in the manufacturer’s recommended timeframe, after studies suggest the first dose may do little for immunocompromised people.
Some patients, like Emi Bossio, say they’re putting off getting the vaccine altogether, even though they are now eligible.
“I’m totally eligible. I’ve been eligible since March 30th,” said Bossio, who has been fighting lung cancer since 2019.
Despite that, she’s waiting until she can be sure her second dose will be within the manufacturer’s recommended window.
A study from the U.K. found that the Pfizer vaccine efficacy for cancer patients after one dose was much lower than in healthy patients. It also found those same patients reached a much higher immunity of 95 per cent two weeks after the booster if they received the second dose within the recommended 21 days.
The study looked at 151 subjects and has not yet been peer-reviewed. But given the urgency of the pandemic, many cancer patients are sharing the information and lobbying for a shorter time between doses than the current 16-week standard.
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Federal government to send health-care workers to Ontario, Trudeau says
MONTREAL — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says federal departments and some Canadian provinces are working to send health-care workers and equipment to help Ontario as it battles record-breaking COVID-19 numbers.
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Trudeau said in a video update Sunday that health care workers employed by government departments such as national defence and immigration will be redeployed to Ontario, and the Greater Toronto area in particular.
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Staff shortages, emotional toll weigh on health-care staff during Ontario’s third wave
TORONTO — Nurse Manpreet Kainth knows every patient being treated under her team’s care in Humber River Hospital’s intensive care unit
Even with her 16 years of experience, the ever-growing workload and the daily scenes unfolding before her eyes – more acutely ill COVID-19 patients and young people fighting for their lives – weigh heavily on her.
There is no escaping that reality even when she’s home with her family, who she tries not to burden with her worries.
“Sometimes when I sleep, I just keep thinking,” she says during a short break after her team has intubated another COVID-19 patient struggling to breathe. “Those things are going through my mind and I just want to shut it down, just shut it off for a minute.”
Another worry that keeps her up at night is the ICU staffing crunch and her team’s high level of turnover at this stage of the third wave of the pandemic.
“The thing is, we are not only taking care of the patients,” she says. “We have to take care of our staff. Everybody’s burned out.”
Read more.
B.C. to start registering people 18 years and older for COVID-19 vaccines
VICTORIA — The British Columbia government says it’s inviting people 18 years and older to register for a COVID-19 vaccine over the next week.
A Ministry of Health statement Sunday says more than 1.8 million people will now be invited to register for their COVID-19 vaccine through the province’s Get Vaccinated program.
The ministry says the registration program starts Monday with people 40 years and older asked to sign up first, with those 35 and older registering Tuesday.
Read more.
South African variant may ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine protection, but vaccine highly effective, Israeli study says
JERUSALEM — The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can break through the protection provided by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found. However, the variant’s prevalence in Israel is very low and the vaccine remains highly effective.
The study was released on the medRxiv pre-print site on April 9 and has not been peer-reviewed. It compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease.
Read more.
Saturday
Alberta reports 1,486 new cases; 3 deaths
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Another 1,486 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Alberta on Saturday, bringing the active case count to 17,307.
Of the new cases, 955 are variants of concern.
Three deaths were also reported.
Saturday
Calgary mass-immunization hub sees paltry turnout for AstraZeneca jabs, prompting questions about expanded eligibility
Thousands of appointments for AstraZeneca vaccinations went unfilled at Calgary’s downtown mass-immunization hub this week.
The vaccination clinic at the Telus Convention Centre can process up to 6,000 jabs per day. At its low point, on Thursday, only 211 AstraZeneca appointments were booked. On Monday, the first day jabs were available at the site, there were 2,855 AstraZeneca appointments, but that number dropped to 756 on Tuesday, 428 on Wednesday and later 414 on Friday.
Comparatively, Telus Convention Centre had about 900 Pfizer appointments booked on Monday and Tuesday, and about 2,060 appointments each day from Wednesday through Friday.
Read more.
Saturday
Blood clots rare, reminds Alberta’s top doctor, as province reports AstraZeneca-linked reaction
The risk of dying from COVID-19 far outweighs the risk of developing a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, reminds the province’s top doctor as Alberta confirms Canada’s second case of an AstraZeneca-linked blood clot.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said on Saturday a male in his 60s is currently receiving treatment for a rare blood clot disorder, called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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These blood clots are “extremely rare,” stressed Hinshaw, who is urging Albertans to continue to get vaccinated to protect against COVID-19.
“The global frequency of VITT has been estimated at approximately one case in 100,000 to 250,000 doses of vaccine,” she said in a statement.
Read more.
Saturday
Quebec hospitalizations and ICU cases highest since second wave
Quebec is reporting its highest number of hospitalizations and intensive care cases due to COVID-19 since the second wave.
Health officials say that over the past 24 hours the province recorded 692 hospitalizations, 175 of which were in ICUs.
The figures mark the highest number of hospitalizations since Feb. 19 and the highest number of ICU cases since Feb. 3.
Confirmed cases of the virus in the past 24 hours totaled 1,537, largely in line with numbers over the past week as the variant-driven third wave continues to hit parts of the country west of the Maritimes.
Health Minister Christian Dube said Friday that Quebec will deploy sound trucks in hard-hit Montreal neighbourhoods to announce the presence of mobile clinics offering Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.
Dube said the megaphone-equipped trucks will blast messages in multiple languages along residential streets in western Montreal and in the city’s diverse Cote-des-Neiges borough to encourage residents to receive one of 20,000 doses available without an appointment over the weekend, adding that the AstraZeneca vaccine is for those 55 and over.
– The Canadian Press
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