COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for April 21

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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.

Hundreds line up for AstraZeneca in Calgary as Alberta clocks almost 1,700 new cases of COVID-19

Calgary’s large-scale immunization clinic reached capacity for the second day in a row as hundreds lined up to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine by walk-in or appointment.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) said they were no longer accepting walk-in clients at the downtown site, located in the TELUS Convention Centre, just hours after the doors opened on Wednesday. The surge in AstraZeneca vaccine uptake came after Alberta expanded eligibility from people aged 55 and over to 40-plus.

The province also reported 1,699 new cases Wednesday, including 1,332 variants of concern. The active case count now sits at 18,873 — about 59 per cent of which are COVID-19 variants.

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Paid leave for COVID-19 vaccines now the law in Alberta

Alberta workers have been given up to three hours paid leave to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one day after the idea was suggested by the opposition in the legislature.

In a rare move, MLAs sped up the approval process by waiving many of the bureaucratic amendments that apply to tabling other pieces of legislation. Within slightly more than 30 minutes the bill had passed through all three required readings Wednesday night.

Amendments to the employment standards code now provide a COVID-19 vaccine leave and make it illegal for an employer to fire or discipline an employee who takes time off to be vaccinated.

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Calgary business owner who made PPE is now in ICU with COVID-19

April 14 was supposed to be the day Adrian Bussoli, 68, received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, it was the day he took a test for the virus.

By the next day, the Calgary small business owner and active volunteer was in the ICU in a medically induced coma and breathing on a ventilator.

In the past year Bussoli’s company, Alberta Garment Manufacturing, had pivoted from oil and gas to manufacturing masks and gowns for private business and the military.

“He’s been a builder,” said friend Martin Buting. “He’s one of those guys with a small business who really gave back to society.”

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B.C. police say they take ‘exception’ to conducting roadblocks limiting travel

British Columbia’s solicitor general says the government will release details of what is considered essential travel this week as the province looks at using roadblocks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

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Mike Farnworth described the checkpoints as a type of “counterattack,” often used to find drunk drivers, but this time meant to discourage recreational travel outside of a person’s health authority.

A “full and comprehensive” list on what is considered essential travel will be released laster this week, Farnworth said at a news conference Wednesday.

His comments come as the National Police Federation released a statement saying it has “grave concerns” about police taking part in enforcing a COVID-19 ban on non-essential travel.

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Ontario seeing growing numbers of pregnant women critically ill with COVID-19

Ottawa high-risk obstetrician and researcher Dr. Mark Walker admits he is terrified by the number of pregnant women ending up in intensive care units across the province with COVID-19 — including in Ottawa.

“There have never been this many pregnant women in ICU in the history of our country, or our province. This is unprecedented.”

In Ottawa, the number was less than six (Walker cannot be more specific for privacy reasons) as of earlier this week, but in some intensive care units in Toronto, pregnant women now represent half, or more, of the critically ill COVID-19 patients, a large percentage of them on ventilators. The situation has reached critical levels in recent weeks.

The women Walker is seeing in intensive care are the sickest pregnant women he has ever treated during his 20-year career as an obstetrician, he says.

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“It is heartbreaking and terrifying,” he said. “These are young, otherwise healthy women.”

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ICU pressures mount in Ontario as COVID fells younger people

Amid mounting pressures on critical care in hospitals and concerns about new variants, COVID-19 is striking a growing number of younger people, often with deadly results.

A recent surge in hospital and ICU admissions has been particularly acute in Ontario, where experts have warned the system was fast reaching a breaking point. One ICU doctor in Toronto reported the rate of fatalities among younger Canadians had increased dramatically in recent months.

“Younger daycare workers, ride-share drivers, factory workers — and their families — are dying,” Dr. Michael Warner, with Michael Garron Hospital, tweeted.

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Alberta Health shifts some AstraZeneca doses away from local pharmacies to large vaccination sites

Alberta has shifted some doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine originally intended for local pharmacies to rapid flow clinics, causing some appointments to be cancelled.

On Tuesday, the province lowered the age requirement to get the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone 40 or older after uptake with an older age group was slow. Tens of thousands of Albertans booked timeslots and attended walk-in clinics. The uptake of people registering on the first day was more than the entire previous week.

Postmedia heard from multiple Albertans on Wednesday who said their pharmacy appointments had been cancelled due to a lack of supply.

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Alberta Health spokesperson Tom McMillan said the department decided to redirect some AstraZeneca doses that were supposed to go to pharmacies to the rapid flow clinics to help vaccinate Albertans as quickly as possible.

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Alberta vaccine makers urge province to get going on domestic supply plan

Alberta-based pharmaceutical companies with COVID-19 vaccines in the works are urging the provincial government to move quickly to support the development of a domestic vaccine industry.

The Alberta government — which put out a call for proposals in March for projects that would bolster long-term vaccine capacity in the province — has since received 17 submissions from companies both inside and outside Alberta, proposing to do everything from early-stage research and development to manufacturing and final production. All of the interested companies were asked to explain how they would support the health of Albertans during COVID-19 and any future variants, as well as how they would support the long-term growth of the pharmaceutical sector in Alberta and local job creation.

Though the government has not yet committed a dollar amount to the project, it has already contracted an outside agency to conduct a due diligence review of the proposals. The plan is to “move quickly” after that to choose specific proposals to fund.

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Alberta student says she and others are dreading return to online learning

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A 17-year-old in Edmonton says she and many of her friends are dreading a return to online learning for the next two weeks because of COVID-19.

Amara Mogos says going back and forth between online learning and regular school has been draining for her and many of her classmates, but she understands the need to do it.

Mogos is one of thousands of junior high and high school students in the city who will return to online learning Thursday.

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Mass vaccination site for Cargill workers in High River postponed

Alberta has postponed the opening of an on-site vaccination clinic meant to offer workers at the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The mass vaccination clinic was scheduled to run Thursday to Saturday as part of Phase 2C of Alberta’s immunization strategy since the worksite has been a source of rapid transmission over the last year. Eighty per cent of the more than 2,000 employees at the plant had already signed the paperwork to get their shot before Cargill was informed about the postponement Tuesday evening.

Alberta Health said this is due to a delay in a shipment of the Moderna vaccine that the province was counting on for the clinic, which will open as soon as possible.

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Argentina COVID-19 deaths hit 60,000 in pandemic’s ‘worst moment’

Argentina is going through its “worst moment” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health minister said on Wednesday, as deaths from the virus hit 60,000 amid a sharp second wave that has forced the country to re-impose some lockdown measures.

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Health Minister Carla Vizzotti warned that the South American country’s healthcare system was at risk, especially in the metropolitan area around the capital Buenos Aires, which had forced the government to restrict movement and suspend indoor activities.

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‘They’re heroes’: How COVID-19 ‘vaccine hunters’ help Canadians find appointments

He’s a software engineer by day and vaccine hunter by night.

Josh Kalpin has made it his goal to get COVID-19 vaccine shots into people’s arms through an increasingly popular Twitter account called “Vaccine Hunters Canada” — one of many tools being created to help people find available appointments and increase vaccine uptake across the country.

“It’s our duty as Canadians to help those that are most at-risk and vulnerable,” Kalpin said. “It’s something tangible every single Canadian can do and we’re just here to facilitate that.”

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Biden says he spoke to Trudeau about helping Canada get more vaccines

President Joe Biden says the United States plans to provide Canada with more help in procuring COVID-19 vaccines.

Biden says he spoke today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the subject. He says the White House is looking at what to do with vaccines that aren’t currently in use in the U.S. That’s likely a reference to the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, which has been approved for use by Health Canada but not by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The U.S. has already provided Canada with about 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and gave 2.5 million doses to Mexico.

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Also see: U.S. will soon hit 200 million goal on vaccine shots: official

Quebec confirms Canada’s first case of ‘double mutant’ variant from India

Quebec has identified its first case of the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, which originated in India and is believed to be fuelling the pandemic surge in that country.

The case was identified in a patient in the Haute-Mauricie region of Quebec, north of Trois-Rivières, officials with Quebec’s public health laboratory confirmed Wednesday. It is believed to be the first case of this variant identified in Canada.

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CFL delays start of 2021 season to Aug. 5

The CFL has delayed the start to the 2021 season.

Commissioner Randy Ambrosie made the announcement on Wednesday morning, ending weeks of speculation regarding if and when the 2021 season would start.

Ambrosie revealed in a media statement that a 14-game regular season is “targeted” to kick off on Aug. 5. The 2021 Grey Cup game, originally slated for Nov. 21 in Hamilton, has been moved to Dec. 12. Training camps are to open in mid-July.

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City closes 2020 with $98M surplus; money planned to support COVID recovery

COVID-19 battered city operations in 2020, but Calgary closed the year with a $98-million surplus — money that will go back into pandemic relief this year.

The final result comes after considerable anxiety about managing city finances during an unprecedented situation, and whether Calgary might even end the year in the red. The city cut spending by $65 million last year, before the federal and provincial governments delivered an aid package totalling about $200 million — part of a program called the Municipal Operating Support Transfer (MOST).

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Officials presented the details as part of the 2020 annual report to council’s audit committee Tuesday. City CFO Carla Male said the finance committee will also see a year-end accountability report this month.

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B.C. border towns, tourism groups say COVID travel restrictions needed to ‘save summer’

As signs are expected to be posted at the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia to advise against non-essential travel between provinces, border towns and local tourism groups are encouraging people to hit pause on interprovincial travel plans until the spread of COVID-19 slows.

The signs at the border are part of B.C. Premier John Horgan’s strategy to discourage recreational trips between provinces and within B.C. while active cases remain high and variant cases continue to spread. Though more details on the new measures are expected Friday, the province is planning periodic roadblocks and police checkstops to limit non-essential travel.

“To be in a situation to say, ‘hold off on travel right now because we have to follow the orders coming on Friday,’ is tough. But if we have to do that to save summer, then that’s what we have to do,” Jikke Gyorki, the executive director of Tourism Fernie, said Tuesday.

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Kenney says he’s open to legislating three hours paid leave for vaccinations

Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday he will decide in the next 24 hours whether to give workers three paid hours to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19 as requested by the NDP.

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In a rare amicable exchange in the legislature, Kenney said he was open to the idea but would need the time to consult with officials to make sure there wouldn’t be any unintended consequences.

Prior to question period NDP Leader Rachel Notley said her party was prepared to waive the rules and pass whatever procedural amendments are required to to push legislation, which would also cover helping family members get vaccinated, through by Thursday, before MLAs take a week-long break to be in their constituencies.

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Demand for AstraZeneca vaccine spikes as age limit drops in Alberta

Calgary’s large-scale immunization clinic was overwhelmed on Tuesday after eligibility for the AstraZeneca vaccine expanded to include anyone aged 40 and over.

Shortly after the TELUS Convention Centre opened its doors, it reached its daily walk-in capacity limit, prompting Alberta Health Services (AHS) to add an additional 500 walk-in appointments on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Premier Jason Kenney said there had been more uptake in a single day than all of last week for the AstraZeneca vaccine after he announced the minimum age would drop to 40 from 55.

The decision came after thousands of appointments went unfilled at Calgary’s downtown clinic when eligibility was more limited.

“This vaccine works. This vaccine has been shown to reduce infection by 60 to 70 per cent and to reduce severe outcomes, like hospitalization, by 80 per cent,” stressed Kenney, who was one of thousands who booked an AstraZeneca jab on Tuesday.

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Watch the full news conference here:

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COVID-19 hospitalizations on the rise in Alberta

Grades 7 to 12 in Edmonton’s public and Catholic schools go online for two-week ‘circuit-breaker’

Edmonton’s public and Catholic schools are moving grades 7 to 12 online for two weeks beginning Thursday as rising COVID-19 cases put pressure on teaching resources.

Edmonton Public Schools superintendent Darrel Robertson told media Tuesday the division asked the province on Monday for the “circuit-breaker” closure.

Robertson said a rise in COVID-19 cases has put pressure on the division’s ability to fill teacher’s spots when they are forced into self-isolation from exposure. Moving the older students online will protect the supply pool for elementary, he said.

“When we see teacher supply shortages — right now they are in the seventies … and so that could easily be 90 to 100 on Thursday. We wanted to pivot as soon as possible,” he said.

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Tuesday

COVID-19 news from around Canada

Ontario’s science advisers say the province’s hospitals are “buckling” under the weight of COVID-19 and stronger measures are urgently needed. The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says those measures include accelerating the vaccination of essential workers and offering them paid sick days, and closing more non-essential workplaces. The group says hospitals are at capacity and younger people are getting sick as case counts keep hitting record highs.

New Brunswick is confirming its first case of a patient experiencing blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell says the person in their 30s received the vaccine in mid-March, before its use was limited to people over the age of 55. Russell says the person was treated and has recovered.

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North Dakota has agreed to start providing vaccines to commercial truckers from Manitoba who cross the border. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says he hopes to expand the program to other essential workers who cross the border for work. Manitoba is reporting one new death related to COVID-19 and 211 new cases today.

British Columbia is examining the use of periodic roadblocks to limit travel. Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and the solicitor general, says the checks would be set up at locations like ferry terminals or along major highways leading out of Metro Vancouver.

Toronto says it will temporarily close any non-essential businesses that have had five or more COVID-19 cases in the previous two weeks. Public health officials say the closures will be in effect for a minimum of 10 days, and workers are required to self-isolate during that time. They say workplaces considered essential, such as health-care facilities and schools, may be exempt.

Quebec is reporting 1,136 new cases of COVID-19 today and 17 more deaths. Health officials say hospitalizations rose by eight, to 694, and 177 people were in intensive care, a drop of six.

Ontario is reporting 3,469 cases of COVID-19 today and 22 more deaths linked to the virus.

Nunavut is reporting five new cases of COVID-19. There are now 33 active cases in the territory, 31 in Iqaluit and two in Kinngait.

Tuesday

Trudeau seeks vaccine appointment

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland both say they are seeking appointments at a pharmacy to get vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

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Both Trudeau, 49, and Freeland, 52, became eligible today when Ontario dropped the age to get that vaccine to 40 and above.

Trudeau says he is still working out the details for getting his shot, while Freeland says she has her children online trying to get her an appointment and is now on a waitlist.

Tuesday

Trudeau defends Canada’s travel restrictions as effective but open to doing more

Canada is extending the use of quarantine hotels for international air travellers another month, and considering whether it needs to do more to stop COVID-19 cases from getting into the country from abroad.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that could include barring incoming flights from specific countries, such as India, even as he defended his government’s actions on the border as effective Tuesday.

“We are continuing to look at more and I have asked our officials to look carefully at, for example, what the U.K. has done very recently on suspending flights from India,” he said.

Read more.

Tuesday

Six people in Vaughan, Ont., injected with saline instead of COVID-19 vaccine

Six people at an immunization clinic in Ontario were mistakenly injected with saline solution instead of the Pfizer vaccine.

A statement from Mackenzie Health on Monday said the incident happened on March 28 at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic located at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital north of Toronto.

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Tuesday

AstraZeneca bookings now open to Albertans born in 1981 or earlier

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Tuesday

Mossleigh restaurant ordered closed for continuing dine-in service

A restaurant located one hour southeast of Calgary has been ordered closed by AHS for continuing to provide dine-in services.

The Mossleigh Bar ‘n Grill, located at 17, Highway 24 in Mossleigh, was shut down on Friday.

An inspector found people from different households seated inside the restaurant with food and menus.

Dine-in service has been restricted in Alberta since the province returned to Step 1 of the reopening plan in early April.