There will be no more regularly scheduled press conferences on COVID-19, Alberta’s medical director of health said Wednesday.
The severity of the Omicron wave has been slowly declining for weeks. The provincial government changed its COVID-19 updates with Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Health Minister Jason Copping from a weekly to fortnightly occurrence.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Hinshaw announced that it would be the last regularly scheduled COVID update.
“We remain committed to the transparent communication of important public health information and will, of course, provide updates as needed,” he said.
Alberta Health will continue to update COVID-19’s public data weekly, he said.
Hinshaw said upcoming changes in the way public health officials control COVID-19, which is supposed to make things more sustainable, will affect the public data board by the end of the summer.
In the fall, Alberta Health will change its COVID report to align with that of its flu control panel, showing how the two respiratory diseases are spreading, he added.
Hinshaw said stopping regular updates in person is part of that transition.
“We are entering a phase of the pandemic where our response may escalate, while we are vigilant and prepared to respond to new variants that could lead to another wave of cases and hospital admissions,” Copping said on Wednesday.
Last week, Alberta removed mandatory public health restrictions, except for a few measures at Alberta’s health care facilities and other health centers.
Public health orders for continuing care facilities will be revoked on June 30, Copping said, but protection policies will remain as part of operational standards.
Alberta Health Services will monitor outbreaks in higher-risk settings and respond as needed, he said.
The use of mandatory masks in Alberta health centers has shifted from a provincial standard to an organizational policy. (Radio-Canada)
By the end of this summer, some AHS test sites will be turned into cleaning sites that will be integrated with other services, Copping said.
Hinshaw noted that living with COVID-19 does not mean it will go away, but that the province has tools available to lift public health restrictions.
Vaccines against COVID-19 are one such tool, he added. Hinshaw encouraged Albertans to receive their initial doses of vaccine (if they have not already done so) and booster doses when they are eligible to do so.
Provincial data suggest the government may back down on public health measures, said Noel Gibney, professor emeritus of critical medicine at the University of Alberta. But he hopes the restrictions will return if there is another increase driven by new variants.
“Public health and medical science are telling us that this pandemic will not behave as we expected,” Gibney said.
Being prepared to re-impose restrictions would show that the Alberta government wants to maintain public safety and recognizes the stress that hospitals have suffered during the massive waves, Gibney said.
He said that given the low level of evidence, Alberta could be in the middle of an increase when the data show that there has been one.
13 more Albertans die from COVID-19
Alberta public health officials identified 13 more deaths from COVID-19 from June 14-20, the last week of reports.
A total of 4,604 Albertans have now died from the disease since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, there were fewer Albertans in the hospital with COVID-19 than the previous week.
On Monday, 661 people were being treated at the hospital, including 17 patients receiving critical care.
One week ago there were 719 hospitalizations, including 19 patients in the intensive care unit.
The positivity rate of the seven-day PCR test dropped to 12.32 percent during the last reporting week. Last week, the positivity rate of the seven-day test was about 13.2 percent.
There were 1,086 new cases of COVID-19 identified by PCR testing during the last reporting week, almost 400 fewer than the previous week.
The number of viruses circulating in the community is believed to be higher because most Albertans cannot access PCR testing and the data exclude positive results from rapid testing.
Of the entire population of Alberta, including those who are not eligible, 77.3% of people have two doses of COVID-19 vaccine; 81.5% of the population has at least one dose.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Alberta, said she was concerned that upcoming changes in reports could lead to the misconception that the pandemic was over, especially given the high levels of transmission. .
“There’s a balance that needs to be struck,” Saxinger said.
“Some people say, ‘Absolutely, do the same thing as before,’ and I’m not sure it’s entirely correct. On the other hand, we have people like, ‘It’s over, we don’t even do it. more ‘, and that’s not right either. “
Another case of monkeypox has been identified
Hinshaw said a new case of smallpox in Alberta has been reported.
The person is an adult and is connected to another case of monkeypox reported outside the province, he said, adding that the risk of infection in Alberta is low.
Five total cases have now been found in Alberta. he said, all from the Calgary and Edmonton health zones.