COVID-19 Live Updates: News on coronavirus in Calgary for April 11

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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.

Half of Alberta’s active cases are variants of concern as province prepares to expand vaccine eligibility

Half of Alberta’s active cases are now variants of concern as the province reported a record 942 new variant cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

The record variant cases come as Alberta prepares to expand vaccine eligibility to a part of those in Phase 2C on Monday, which includes more than 240,000 health-care workers.

The more contagious variants now represent 50.5 per cent of Alberta’s 14,293 active cases across the province. Nearly 2,000 variant cases were detected over the weekend, including 876 reported on Saturday and 942 reported on Sunday, the majority of which are the B.1.1.7 strain, first identified in the United Kingdom — the dominant strain in Alberta.

A week ago on April 4, about 38 per cent of the province’s active cases were variants of concern.

Greater community spread of the variants has resulted in swelling hospital admissions. An eight per cent increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 was reported Sunday, as the number of patients in hospital jumped from 349 on Saturday to 376 on Sunday. The 376 hospitalizations include the 90 patients in intensive-care units, up from 84 the day prior. This was after the five per cent increase documented on Saturday.

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Alberta Health reported a total 1,183 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. The new cases came from 14,861 completed tests for a test positivity rate of 7.9 per cent. There were 1,293 cases reported on Saturday, representing a nine per cent test positivity rate.

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Tight CBE budget raises challenges in helping students with COVID learning gaps

Public schools will face significant challenges next fall with students suffering gaps in learning due to COVID disruptions.

But questions remain as to whether a tight fall budget will be able to provide the much-needed resources to support kids who have fallen behind academically.

The Calgary Board of Education released its first Budget Assumptions Report for the 2021-22 school year at this week’s board meeting, expecting $1.15 billion from Alberta Education.

Of that, about $834 million will go directly to classrooms, only a slight bump from last year’s $832 million.

But in the year-long roller coaster of in-class learning, online learning, substitute teachers and forced quarantines, officials admit learning has been tough for kids.

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Catholic board maintains contact tracing still happening over spring break

The Calgary Catholic School Division says it has continued to assist Alberta Health Services with contact tracing of cases within schools over spring break, despite internal AHS emails which suggest otherwise.

In internal AHS emails shared with Postmedia, officials say the CCSD had informed them at the start of the division’s spring break they would not take calls from contact tracers relating to cases of COVID-19 identified at the schools, even if the cases are variants of concern.

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The emails said the district would resume taking calls from contact tracers April 12, after students and staff return from spring break.

In a series of statements, CCSD spokesperson Sandra Borowski said the Catholic district works collaboratively with AHS to complete contact tracing, and said school principals and AHS staff have followed up with close contacts of cases over spring break.

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Crowd gathers at GraceLife Church on first Sunday after closure

About 400 people gathered outside a church near Edmonton on Sunday, the first Sunday — typically a day in which it would host a congregation — after it was closed down for violating public COVID-19 health orders.

The range road in front of GraceLife Church, located off Highway 627 about 5 km west of the Edmonton city limits, has been closed to traffic. RCMP has several vehicles and officers in the area.

Some of the people gathered sang hymns and listened to bible readings held outside fencing enclosing the church property.

Some in attendance held signs warning of tyranny while others wore shirts insinuating the ongoing global pandemic that has accounted for tens of thousands of deaths in Canada was not real. Some carried Alberta and Canada flags and, shortly after 10 a.m., a large wooden cross was carried down the road as the church hymn Amazing Grace was played form a loud speaker.

Many in attendance were vocal about disliking government, the media and the police in attendance, and several prominent anti-mask individuals attended the gathering.

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Albertans express growing frustration over a perceived lack of enforcement of COVID-19 rules

Albertans are voicing frustration at neighbours and businesses who are blatantly breaking public health restrictions with little to no consequences a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alberta has been navigating the global pandemic with various levels of public health restrictions with a variety of businesses opening and closing over the past 13 months. People have been dealing with rules around gatherings, eating at restaurants and where they need to wear masks among other things.

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Play to resume at world men’s curling championship despite four positive tests for COVID-19

The world men’s curling championship is set to resume Sunday, a day after officials announced four positive COVID-19 tests within the Calgary bubble.

One of the players who tested positive was a member of a playoff team and he will not be allowed to play Sunday. That player tested positive originally and then tested negative later in the day on Saturday.

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Canada nearing peak of second wave of COVID-19, Tam says

Canada’s chief public health officer says the country is nearing the peak of the second wave of COVID-19, as several provinces are struggling to contain new outbreaks.

Dr. Theresa Tam’s statement comes as Ontario reported a record 4,456 cases of COVID-19 today.

Tam says intensive care admissions across the country increased by 23 per cent over the last seven days compared to the week before, which is putting strain on the health system.

She says COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are increasingly impacting younger people and says there’s been a jump in the number of hospitalizations among those 40 to 59 years old.

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Saturday

More than 350 Calgary pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccine

There are now 354 pharmacies offering the COVID-19 vaccine in Calgary. Appointments are still necessary and can be booked by contacting participating pharmacies by phone or online. 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.

Saturday

Community pharmacist seeks greater role in Alberta vaccine campaign

The owner of an Airdrie pharmacy that specializes in immunizations is questioning why community businesses haven’t been given a bigger role in Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The Polaris Travel Clinic and Pharmacy received its first shipment of vaccine earlier this week: 100 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The pharmacy has been asking Alberta Health Services for a bigger role in immunizing community members in Airdrie given its pre-pandemic focus on providing shots for international travellers.

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“It’s been a long path to get to this point, and it’s still a very narrow swath of people we can do. It’s 55 to 64 with no medical conditions,” said Polaris owner and pharmacist Jason Kmet.

“That’s a relatively limited group when we have the capacity to do hundreds and hundreds a day.”

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Saturday

1,293 new cases, 5 deaths

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Variant cases spiked Saturday as Alberta reported 1,293 more people had tested positive for COVID-19.

The province reported a record 876 new variant cases Saturday. The majority are the B.1.1.7 strain, first found in the United Kingdom, which has become the dominant strain in Alberta.

Fifty-eight of the new variant cases, however, are the P.1 variant which originated in Brazil. Alberta has now identified 81 P.1 cases. Early evidence shows the P.1 variant, which has driven viral growth in British Columbia, is as much as 2.5 times as transmissible as the previously dominant wild strain of COVID-19.

As well, one new cases of the B.1.351 variant, first found in South Africa, was detected.

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Saturday

South African variant can ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine: Israeli study

The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can “break through” Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed.

The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics.

The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1% of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit.

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Saturday

240,000 more Alberta health-care workers eligible for vaccine starting Monday

Alberta’s once-sluggish COVID-19 vaccine rollout accelerated again Saturday, as the province announced more than 240,000 additional workers can book their shots starting Monday.

Premier Jason Kenney said health-care workers in Phase 2C of the vaccine rollout are the next group in line to be immunized against COVID-19.

The list of those newly eligible is broad. It includes all family doctors, nurses in the community, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists. It also includes addictions counsellors, chiropractors, laboratory technicians and psychologists, among other health-care professionals. Practicum students in clinical placements are also eligible.

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Saturday

Alberta to introduce more COVID-19 rapid testing in schools

Schools in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and Grande Prairie will soon be able to receive COVID-19 rapid tests, Premier Jason Kenney announced Saturday.

Kenney said the province will be distributing close to 400,000 tests to up to 300 schools, covering up to 200,000 students and 20,000 teachers. The focus will initially be on Grades 7 to 12, with schools in Edmonton and Calgary receiving tests first. The expansion comes after a pilot program was run in March at two schools in Calgary.

“This is significant,” said Kenney. “To put this in perspective, it’s almost a third of all students in Alberta who we think will benefit.”

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Kenney said tests can be distributed to schools in other communities if there is a need. He said there is not enough capacity of trained professionals that can administer the tests to every school in the province.

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Saturday

France to extend gap between mRNA vaccine shots, minister says

France will lengthen the period between the first and second shots of mRNA anti-COVID vaccines to six weeks from four weeks as of April 14 to accelerate the inoculation campaign, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the JDD newspaper on Sunday.

“That will allow us to vaccinate more quickly without reducing protection,” Veran told the paper.

France has approved use of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

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