COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for May 6

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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 had an upcoming surgery postponed? Do you have a family member in the ICU, or have you recovered after spending time in the ICU? 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.

Have you purchased a home during the pandemic? Our business reporter Amanda Stephenson would like to talk with you about the surging real estate market. You can reach her at astephenson@postmedia.com.

Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.

Golf in Alberta to be limited to single-household or close contacts under new restrictions

Golf courses across the Wild Rose Province are bracing for tighter restrictions.

National Allied Golf Association (NAGA) Alberta alerted industry stakeholders Thursday that, as part of the latest government measures to combat the third wave of COVID-19, public and private players will be able to tee it up only with those from the same household or, in the case they live alone, their two close contacts.

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Calgary agencies pledge more enforcement of COVID rules as AHS lays legal hammer on scofflaw café

Calgary bylaw and police services both say they will step up enforcement of COVID-19 rules after Alberta’s justice minister vowed more action against repeat violators.

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In a news release Thursday evening, the agencies said enforcement of public health orders continues to be a priority.

However, zero violation tickets under the Public Health Act have been issued in Calgary over the past week.

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Family friend of Edmonton woman who died of blood clot linked to AstraZeneca vaccine says she was turned away from hospital

A family friend of an Edmonton woman who died of a rare blood clot condition linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine says she was turned away from a city hospital.

Lisa Stonehouse, 52, died at the University of Alberta Hospital just after 5 a.m. on Monday following complications due to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). Stonehouse is Alberta’s second case of VITT and her death is the first related to the condition in the province.

Wilf Lowenberg, a friend, said Stonehouse received the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 21.

“She had the normal symptoms, headaches, that they associate with the vaccine, but it never went away and it steadily progressed to be worse,” he said.

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More than 100,000 Albertans flock to book Phase 3 vaccine appointments

Albertans newly eligible for COVID-19 immunization showed up in spades Thursday morning as those born in 1991 and earlier were allowed to book their shots.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, more than 100,000 Albertans had already booked an appointment through Alberta Health Services, the health authority said. That count doesn’t include those who booked jabs through pharmacies.

Vaccine eligibility opened broadly Thursday at 8 a.m., allowing all those born between 1982 and 1991 to get inoculated. There are about 595,000 Albertans in this group who have not already received at least one dose of vaccine, meaning more than one-in-six of those people booked appointments through AHS alone within hours of spots opening.

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At-home learning protocols unique for each grade as all K-12 students go online

With all K-12 students learning from home as of Friday, educators hope more than a year of on and off online instruction since the start of the pandemic will make the next three weeks a little more seamless.

Students in the early grades will be spending anywhere between 30 minutes to three hours online in front of teachers, in addition to doing assigned work focusing on numeracy and literacy with the option to check back with teachers throughout the day.

Junior high and high school students, who have already been learning online since mid-April at both the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District, will continue with their usual schedules including multiple hours online in virtual instruction or learning activities.

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2,211 new cases, no new deaths

Dr. Deena Hinshaw delivered the latest numbers and took questions from reporters on Thursday afternoon.

• 2,211 new cases on 19,900 tests; 11.1% positivity rate
• 654 in hospital; 146 in ICUs
• No new deaths; 2,102 total
• 24,497 active cases; 176,536 recovered
• 1.73 million doses of vaccine administered in the province

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Watch the full livestream of the press conference below.

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Outbreak grows to four cases at Foothills hospital; Rockyview added to outbreak list

An outbreak of COVID-19 at the Foothills Medical Centre has grown to four cases, according to Alberta Health Services.

AHS publishes a list of all outbreaks in acute care settings on its website. It lists two ongoing outbreaks at the Foothills Medical Centre: one first declared in a unit on April 13 and another that was first declared May 3. The April 13 outbreak has a single case in a patient; the May 3 outbreak was initially reported with a single patient but has since grown to four patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

As well, the latest report now includes an outbreak in a unit at the Rockyview General Hospital first declared on May 5. A single patient has tested positive for COVID-19 in that oubreak.

Affected units are under outbreak control measures, AHS said. Patients with symptoms, or who have tested positive, are isolated. At-risk patients in each unit have been tested and contact tracing is ongoing.

Study: Single Pfizer dose only 30% effective against U.K. variant so spacing is riskier

A new study has found spacing out doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is a lot riskier against variants running rampant than administering both jabs quicker.

The study of close to 40,000 people in Qatar found that the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine was only 30% effective at preventing infection (either symptomatic or asymptomatic) by the B.1.1.7 variant, also known as the U.K. variant.

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The single shot was found to be 54.5% effective at preventing more serious results (“severe, critical or fatal”) according to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The study found those who have received two jabs of the vaccine had 87% protection against infection — increasing to 90% two weeks after the second dose — against the B.1.1.7 variant, which is extensively found in Ontario and Alberta.

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COVID-19 the most common cause of a rare spinal disorder that causes paralysis, review finds

A new scientific review has suggested the existence of a link between COVID-19 and a rare spinal disorder that can cause paralysis and quadriplegia and that has affected adults and a few children in several countries.

Researchers in the United States and Panama have found at least 43 cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) — among a global total of 86 million COVID-19 cases in 21 countries — that they say has been linked to a previous COVID-19 infection.

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The latest on COVID-19 from across Canada

Nova Scotia is reporting 182 new cases of COVID-19 today — another record daily high for the province.The province is now dealing with 1,309 active reported cases.

Nunavut is reporting 12 new cases of COVID-19 and eight new recoveries today. The chief public health officer of Nunavut says house parties and visits between households are to blame for a rise in COVID-19 cases in Iqaluit. As a result, anyone who attended a party in the last three weeks in the city is asked to call the COVID-19 hotline and get tested. Although gatherings are banned in the city, public health will not report people to law enforcement who have been to a house party and call the hotline.

Health authorities say another crew member on a cargo ship anchored off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador has tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 14 crew members have now tested positive on the MV Federal Montreal, a bulk carrier owned by Fednav, a transport company headquartered in Quebec.

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Manitoba is reporting 363 new COVID-19 cases. Six earlier cases have been removed due to data correction, however, for a net increase of 357.

New Brunswick says a resident in their 80s of special-care home Pavillon Beau-Lieu in Grand Falls is the 40th person to die in the province of COVID-19. Health officials are reporting 11 new cases of COVID-19 today, including 10 travel-related cases of New Brunswick workers who are isolating outside the province.

Quebec is reporting 907 new cases of COVID-19 today and seven more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus. The province is also announcing a plan to vaccinate youth between the ages of 12 and 17 against COVID-19.

Ontario reports there are 3,424 new cases of COVID-19 in the province and 26 more deaths linked to the virus.

Three eateries in the Calgary area sanctioned over illegal patios

Citing illegal patios, health inspectors have ordered the closure of two Calgary-area eateries and censured another.

Alberta Health Services officials say the configuration of the patios makes them indoor spaces, which can’t be used under COVID-19 public health rules.

The closure orders come just as the province – under criticism for allegedly lax enforcement of restrictions – has vowed to get tougher with COVID-19 scofflaws.

And on Tuesday, the province said as of Monday all outdoor commercial patios in Alberta would be shut down for at least three weeks to slow the spread of the virus.

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Trudeau reaches out Alberta’s big city mayors

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he reached out to Mayors Naheed Nenshi and Don Iveson last night in regards to COVID-19.

Earlier this week, the PM said during a press briefing he had reached out to offer assistance to the province. There has been no indication that Alberta is accepting any special assistance from the federal government as it deals with the third wave.

Queue system works well as people born in 1991 or earlier line up for vaccine

An AHS spokesperson confirmed 100,000 appointments had been booked by 11 a.m across the entire province.

User reported their booking process went quickly and easily, once they had made it through the queue.

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More than 40,000 people were queued up in the online system shortly after 8 a.m., when bookings began.

All Albertans aged 12 and up will be eligible to book on Monday, but the province gave people aged 30 and up a few days head start to get their vaccine booked.

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No need for buyer’s remorse on AstraZeneca shots, NACI co-chair says

The co-chair of Canada’s vaccine advisory committee says anyone who took the AstraZeneca vaccine did the right thing and shouldn’t feel they got a second-best vaccine.

Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, the co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Immunization, put out a statement late Wednesday night, clarifying comments she made earlier this week.

When NACI released its recommendation on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the advisory committee said Canadians who can wait for an mRNA vaccine, like Pfizer or Moderna, should do so, rather than taking a viral-vector type vaccine like Johnson & Johnson, or AstraZeneca.

Quach-Thanh said she was not trying to suggest the AstraZeneca vaccine, which over one million Canadians have already received, was a second-best choice.

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Canada may find it challenging to reach herd immunity from COVID-19, experts say

Herd immunity may not be reached in Canada but a return to life similar to that before COVID-19 is possible through immunization, experts say.

Such immunity is achieved when enough people are immune to a virus, either through vaccinations or natural infections or a combination of both.

Prof. Paul Tupper of Simon Fraser University’s mathematics department said herd immunity is unlikely to happen with COVID-19 for a few reasons.

The virus is being transmitted worldwide, which means it is reintroduced in different places across borders and immunity through vaccination and infection doesn’t last permanently. The vaccines don’t seem to be completely effective against some of the new variants, he said.

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Wednesday

Alberta expanding vaccine eligibility to everyone age 12 and over, as province reports 2,271 new cases

All Albertans age 12 and over will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Monday, Premier Jason Kenney announced Wednesday, as the province reported another 2,271 cases.

Vaccine appointments for those born in or before 1991 will open through Alberta Health Services and at participating pharmacies on Thursday, and bookings for those aged 12 to 29 bookings will open on Monday. By shifting to Phase 3 of the province’s vaccine strategy, another 3.8 million people will become eligible.

“This is a major milestone in our vaccine rollout and it comes right when we need it most,” Kenney said Wednesday morning.

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Wednesday

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Parents scramble to juggle jobs and learning as all students move online Friday

With only two days to prepare for all students moving back to at-home schooling by Friday, parents are scrambling to juggle their own work and support younger kids.

Tara Smith is a single mother with three kids in kindergarten, Grade 3 and Grade 5, all of whom will be learning online for three weeks while she tries to put in her full eight hours a day working at home in investment management.

“I will definitely be getting up a lot earlier now, just so I can get some of my work done before the kids get up,” said Smith.

“I’m grateful that at least I can work from home, a lot of parents can’t. But it’s still hard, it’s going to be a lot.”

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Wednesday

Contentious mural removed from containR park

A mural at Sunnyside’s containR park has been painted over, just days after the brilliantly colourful image was finished on Saturday.

Elena Bushan’s lush painting of a young girl included an owl flying off with a worn blue mask with the words “Let Us Breathe” imprinted on it. The image, also on her Instagram account, included the hashtags #letchildrenbreathe, #unmaskourkids and #stopchildabuse.

Social media erupted. Some posters found it beautiful and powerful but many others harassed her, said a soft-spoken Bushan, who was hesitant to comment in light of that.

“People are telling me I have no heart, I don’t care about elders. My father nearly died from COVID in Europe. I’m not anti-mask or anti-vaccine. I am a mother of two kids and I am worried about children.

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“Their mental health is deteriorating . . . they are breaking,” she said, referencing a recent news story in which McMaster Children’s Hospital reported a steady increase of youth in crisis and a tripling of attempted suicides over a fourth-month period.

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Wednesday

2,271 new cases, three deaths

The latest COVID-19 numbers for Alberta:

• 2,271 new cases on 20,494 tests
• 666 in hospital; 146 in ICUs
• Three deaths; 2,102 total
• 24,156 active cases; 174,666 recovered
• 903 additional variant cases identified; variants 59.4% of active cases

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There was no live update from chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Wednesday afternoon.

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Wednesday

Actions of Blairmore resident who compared lack of mask exemption to segregation forced post office closure

Canada Post made the decision to close its Blairmore location for one day on April 29 due to the repeated actions of a disgruntled customer who refused to wear a mask inside the building.

A sign at the post office on that day said that it was closed “Due to the abusive treatment of employees of this post office and some customers’ inability to follow face-covering policies as set by Canada Post.”

RCMP Media relations officer Corporal Tammy Keibel confirmed that a 59-year-old Blairmore woman was handed a $1,200 ticket for not complying with the public health orders of wearing a mask and social distancing, and for “contravening an order of medical officers.”

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Wednesday

As new COVID-19 restrictions take effect, province vows action against ‘repeated, serious’ violators

Enforcement action will step up as new COVID-19 measures come to Alberta to stem the province’s nation-worst third wave, Alberta’s justice minister said Wednesday.

Kaycee Madu vowed action would be taken against the “small few” who have continually refused to comply with “reasonable and legitimate” public health orders.

“Enforcement will be done and Albertans will see it being done,” Madu said.

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Wednesday

AHS change the locks on scofflaw Whistle Stop Café

Alberta Health Services officials closed a rural restaurant near Mirror Wednesday morning after it repeatedly flouted public-health restrictions meant to stem the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement, the provincial health authority said it “physically closed” the Whistle Stop Café, located outside Mirror about 45 kilometres northeast of Red Deer, and restricted access to the building until its operator demonstrates the ability to comply with health rules.

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Wednesday

AHS orders Trolley 5 to close down enclosed patio

An Alberta Health Services inspector ordered a popular 17th avenue SW establishment to shut down its outdoor patio on Tuesday because of sheltering put up around it.

A written inspection posted by AHS says Trolley 5 restaurant was providing food and beverage “in an indoor space.”

“The space in question is enclosed by 3 walls and a roof and is therefore not considered outdoors as defined in CMOH order 12-2021,” reads the inspector’s report. “This distinction was clearly communicated to the owner at a previous inspection.”

Trolley 5 was ordered to halt its dine-in service immediately.

Under new COVID-19 restrictions announced yesterday, all restaurants must cease patio service as of midnight on Sunday.

Wednesday

Battered from past shut-downs, restaurants and bars despair over patio closures

Joanne Lowden said she’s spent $14,000 on preparing outdoor patios at her two Calgary pubs, only to see them closed down in the latest round of COVID-19 restrictions.

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“We’ve spent so much money on our operations, we’ve done everything AHS has asked of us and now we’re being shut down,” said Lowden, owner of two Pig and Duke pubs.

“This is impacting us drastically. We’re going to have to shut down our downtown location.”

On Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney announced new measures to halt a third wave surge of COVID-19 infections that include closing outdoor patios, leaving bars and restaurants with the sole fall-back of takeout and delivery for at least the next three weeks.

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Wednesday

Alberta confirms blood clot disorder death linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

An Alberta woman in her 50s has died from a rare blood clot disorder after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The province’s chief medical officer of health confirmed in a statement the death linked to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the fatality is the second VITT case and only death related to VITT out of more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca that have been administered in Alberta to date.

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