COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for March 29

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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.

Braid: We need all the weapons we can get to fight COVID-19

Columnist Don Braid writes:

The AstraZeneca vaccine routinely takes a hit to its reputation, even though its behaviour has been mostly exemplary.

There is a very rare but dangerous side effect — a blood clot in the brain — that mainly affects people under 55, most of them female.

This will be red meat to anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists. They mystify me. How can people obsess over vaccine side effects that might afflict a handful of people worldwide, while airily dismissing a virus that so far has killed nearly 23,000 Canadians?

And yet, some older Albertans might reasonably shun AstraZeneca vaccine at the very moment the province is expecting thousands of doses to arrive from the U.S. They’re scheduled for delivery this week, although Alberta Health says that isn’t confirmed yet.

Luckily, AstraZeneca doesn’t need deep-freeze storage. It can be kept at regular refrigeration temperatures for up to six months. Any unused doses could be taken up later, after doubts about this vaccine fade.

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The AstraZeneca story tends to obscure, hopefully temporarily, the much more serious surge of the virus itself.

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GraceLife Church had COVID-19 cases, lawyer says lax enforcement emboldens others

Members of GraceLife Church tested positive for COVID-19 last summer, Postmedia has learned, and a constitutional lawyer fears a continued lack of enforcement will embolden other congregations to flout restrictions.

The Parkland County church was ordered closed in January for repeatedly breaking public health restrictions and its pastor was jailed for 35 days. Still, it continues to hold packed services above 15 per cent capacity, with no enforcement of masks and physical distancing, even as the more deadly and contagious COVID-19 variant cases rise in Alberta.

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Alberta suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55

Alberta is joining the rest of Canada in temporarily suspending AstraZeneca vaccinations for people under 55 years old due to concerns about very rare instances of blood clots in some immunized patients in Europe.

The pause on administering doses of AstraZeneca vaccine announced Monday is a precautionary measure that was recommended to provinces by Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and will offer Health Canada and other public health officials time to monitor emerging evidence from around the world.

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Pharmacies in and around Calgary offering COVID-19 vaccine

This map shows 53 pharmacies in Calgary, Chestermere and Airdrie offering the COVID-19 vaccine. More locations will be added in the coming days, according to the provincial government. Appointments are still required and can be booked by contacting the participating pharmacies. Details on eligibility and booking can be found here.

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’Circuit breaker’ restrictions for B.C. target indoor dining, fitness and faith services

B.C. has announced tougher new restrictions on indoor dining at pubs and restaurants, indoor group fitness and has reversed course on allowing indoor faith services. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has also suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in B.C. pending investigations in Europe to determine if the vaccine is causing blood clots.

The new restrictions, which Henry called “a circuit breaker” to reduce transmission, take effect midnight tonight until April 19. People will still be able to dine on outdoor patios but only with their immediate household or core bubble. All adult group fitness is banned but gyms can remain open with individual or one-on-one activities such as personal training.

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‘A very clear shift’: Younger people getting sicker, faster with COVID, doctors say

Younger people are getting more severely ill with COVID, and more quickly, prompting desperate “rescue” interventions for people as young as 22 at one Toronto Hospital.

On Monday, 17 people with COVID-19 were connected to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, at Toronto General Hospital, the highest number since the pandemic began. Their ages ranged from 22 to 61. Four are in their 20s or 30s.

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545 new cases, no deaths; Alberta pauses AstraZeneca for those under 55

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, gave an early update on Monday afternoon. The update is unexpected, as she had previously said she wouldn’t be speaking again until Tuesday.

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Alberta is pausing the use of AstraZeneca for anyone under 55, following the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. A “very small” number of people reported blood clots in the brain four to 20 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, Hinshaw said. She said none of those cases were in Canada.

“This temporary pause is the result of our robust safety monitoring working the way it should,” Hinshaw said.

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Watch the full update below.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in Alberta

Canada to pause Oxford-AstraZeneca shots for under-55s

Health Canada is issuing new recommendations on the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Canada’s Health Minister said Monday, following on Prince Edward Island’s suspension of its use for those aged 18 to 29.

Patty Hajdu confirmed the federal health department and Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization is recommending that AstraZeneca PLC’s COVID-19 vaccine should not be given to people under 55 for the time being, citing safety reasons, the CBC said on Monday.

Last week, the health ministry said the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and would continue to be recommended for use. The ministry was not immediately available for comment on the CBC report.

But a briefing with Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization and Health Canada doctors is planned for this afternoon to explain the details to Canadians.

Hajdu says Health Canada has been monitoring data very closely following reports of adverse effects in other jurisdictions.

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Vaccine rollout expanded to Albertans with high-risk conditions

The province announced this morning it is moving into Phase 2B of its vaccination rollout plan.

Albertans born in or before 1963 with eligible conditions that put them at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 will be able to book their vaccination beginning tomorrow at participating pharmacies in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer.

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Younger ager groups will be added as Phase 2B continues. By the end of the phase, all Albertans born in 2005 or earlier will be eligible.

“This is great news for vulnerable Albertans and another big step forward in our vaccine rollout. Anyone with these serious health conditions will now be eligible for vaccines that give effective protection from COVID-19,” Minister of Health Tyler Shandro said in a press release. “We’re ramping up our vaccinations as fast as the incoming vaccine supply allows. Every adult in Alberta will be offered a first dose by the end of June.”

The government released this list of eligible health conditions in a press release:

City to reopen three recreation facilities

The city is planning to reopen the Glenmore Aquatic Centre, Renfrew Aquatic Centre and Inglewood Aquatic Centre on Monday, April 5.

The three facilities join five other aquatic and fitness centres and 10 city-operated ice sheets open for appointment-based bookings. Registration for swimming and skating lessons are also open.

“We’ve been monitoring user visits and facility bookings, and reopening facilities to safely accommodate the growing number of people looking to visit,” says Jarret Hoebers, Regional Manager with Calgary Recreation. “We’re happy to be able to serve Calgarians while following provincial public health guidance.”

Alberta reports 644 new COVID-19 cases as variant cases continue to spread

Nearly 50 per cent of Alberta’s total active cases are located in the Calgary zone, as variant cases continue to spread in the community.

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Another 644 cases of COVID-19 were reported Sunday, raising the number of active cases provincewide to 7,698. Of those cases, 3,565 — or about 46 per cent — are in Alberta Health Services’ Calgary zone. This is more than double the number of active cases in the Edmonton zone, where there are 1,734.

More variant cases have been detected in the Calgary zone, as well. By Sunday, a total of 1,307 variant cases had been recorded in the Calgary zone, which is nearly 300 more than the 1,017 in the Edmonton zone. The three variants are more contagious than the dominant strain, though the B.1.1.7 strain that was first identified in the United Kingdom is the most widespread of the three variants in Alberta.

All five of Alberta’s cases of the P.1 strain — first discovered in Brazil — and 16 of Alberta’s 20 cases of B.1.351 variant, which was identified in South Africa, were reported in the Calgary zone.

About 26 per cent of the province’s active cases are variant cases. Alberta detected 235 new variant cases Sunday.

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COVID-19 hurt Calgary business revenue, but optimism persists: Chamber poll

The majority of Calgary businesses saw revenues decrease over the last year as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted public life, but optimism about a recovery is growing.

Those are among the findings of a survey commissioned by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and conducted by Trend Research. The survey polled a random sampling of 250 businesses in Calgary and area from the end of February until the beginning of March.

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Seventy-one per cent of businesses who responded saw their revenues decrease since the start of the pandemic, with those who lost money reporting an average 49 per cent dip.

However, 62 per cent of businesses say they’re optimistic about Alberta’s economic future.

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COVID-19 developments across Canada on Monday

Quebec is reporting 891 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including two in the past 24 hours. Health officials say that while hospitalizations dropped by three to 477, the number of patients requiring intensive care rose by six to 120.

Ontario is reporting 2,094 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 more deaths linked to the virus. Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 618 new cases in Toronto.

‘There’s a lot of resilience’: Why mental health is holding up to COVID-19 better than expected

In the first chaotic weeks of COVID-19 lockdowns, there was a universal belief that the world’s mental health was about to head into a tailspin.

Even before they declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the World Health Organization said the disease would bring a tide of loneliness and self-harm. The Canadian Mental Health Association girded Canadians for an “echo pandemic” of anxiety and depression. Governments poured funding into crisis hotlines and online counselling programs.

But then something happened: Suicides — one of the most reliable indicators of societal mental health — either didn’t change or started to go down.

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Quebec, Ontario officials say many vaccine appointments unfilled, ask seniors to act

As COVID-19 cases continued to climb in Canada’s two biggest provinces on Sunday, officials in Ontario and Quebec said there are vacant vaccination appointments that need to be filled.

In Toronto, Mayor John Tory pleaded with those aged 70 and older to get vaccinated.

“We have the vaccines, we have the staff in place to do it and we have the appointments, so all we need now is you,” Tory said.

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Also see: Canada expecting to receive 3.3 million vaccine doses this week

Leaked WHO report on the origins of COVID-19: Wuhan lab leak ‘extremely unlikely’

A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

The reported findings match what WHO officials have said in the past about their conclusions following a January-February visit to China.

Many questions remain unanswered, and the team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis, the Associated Press reported, citing a draft copy it had obtained.

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‘Unprecedented’: How Canada approved five vaccines for COVID-19 in under a year

The speed has raised fears among Canadians that everything moved too quickly. Many medical experts worry it is contributing to hesitancy to get the vaccines.

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But Sharma says speed did not come at the expense of safety.

“That’s the only priority, the only thought, is what’s best for Canadians,” she said. “There’s no other motivation anywhere.”

Lack of research funds can slow down new drug development, but in this case, as lockdowns shuttered economies worldwide and death tolls mounted, countries poured billions of dollars into getting a vaccine to get us out of the pandemic.

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‘Hasn’t been able to spread’: Still no flu cases recorded in Alberta this season

As Alberta nears the end of March, the province still has not recorded a single lab-confirmed case of influenza.

Despite having done almost two and a half times as many tests for the flu compared to this time last year, Alberta Health Services statistics covering Sept. 27, 2020, to March 20, 2021, show zero cases. Last season the province saw 8,470 total cases recorded from Aug. 25, 2019, to May 2, 2020, including 1,534 hospitalizations and 39 deaths.

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Sunday

GraceLife Church pastor returns to pulpit after jail time for breaching COVID-19 public health order

GraceLife Church was bustling Sunday morning as pastor James Coates returned to the pulpit after being jailed in February for flouting COVID-19 public health measures.

The church just a few minutes west of Edmonton in Parkland County has continued to hold packed Sunday services despite RCMP and Alberta Health Services inspectors appearing each week to ensure public health measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19 are followed. RCMP officials have repeatedly stated those measures were not followed while they were on scene. The parking lot was filling quickly around 10 a.m. Sunday, prior to the 10:45 a.m. sermon from Coates.

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Sunday

Alberta prisoner populations rise after ‘unprecedented’ drop during COVID’s early months

The number of people locked up in Alberta’s provincial jails plummeted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but has trended upward in the year since, according to new data obtained by Postmedia.

Alberta corrections populations fell 35 per cent at the outset of the pandemic, as the justice system responded to worries about coronavirus outbreaks in jails and remand centres.

But after bottoming out in the summer, the number of provincial inmates started to climb. The first outbreaks in the Alberta corrections system occurred during the second wave of infections, which coincided with that rise.

Since then, a total of 1,310 inmates, staff and contractors have fallen ill with the virus. Justin Piché, a University of Ottawa criminologist who has been tracking COVID-19 cases in prisons, said as of March 10, 2021, Alberta had the most cumulative COVID cases of any provincial correctional system, second only to the federal Correctional Service Canada.

Read more.

Sunday

Path out of pandemic isn’t straightforward, but hope lies ahead: experts

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TORONTO — There is a light at the end of the tunnel, COVID-19 experts say, even if it’s hard to see it while more contagious virus variants plunge parts of Canada into the third wave of the pandemic.

And while the route to a post-pandemic world may not be as linear as some may like, there’s still reason for optimism, said Dr. Zain Chagla, medical director of infection control at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

“There’s an end goal, there’s a solution, there’s a way we get back to normal without necessarily walloping our health-care system,” he said.

That solution is vaccination, he said, and it’s worth getting excited about despite the the slow pace of the immunization campaign, which has been blamed on supply shortages.

The vaccines likely won’t get rid of COVID-19 entirely, Chagla said, but the death rate is falling, as is the number of people who have become seriously ill, though case counts are rising.

“I think we’re probably going to see this start drying out in the community,” he said. “I don’t think the vaccines are ever gonna eradicate it off the face of the Earth. They’re just gonna make this much more manageable with our day to day lives.”

Many epidemiologists believe COVID-19 will become a manageable respiratory infection like the flu, posing a small threat but largely manageable through vaccination.

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