alberta doctors call for 'fire break' lockdown
alberta's icus are facing immense pressure as the number of patients needing care continues to rise during the fourth wave of covid-19
4 minute read
calgary icu staff working on patients in a crowded icu.
supplied by ahs
by: jason herring
two prominent alberta doctors are calling for a provincewide “fire break” lockdown and mandatory vaccinations for all employees in a letter to the province’s new health minister.
these measures and more are needed to address the “crushing covid-19 burden being borne by alberta and alberta health services,” wrote dr. noel gibney and dr. james talbot in the letter to health minister jason copping on sunday. gibney is a critical-care specialist and professor emeritus at the university of alberta, while talbot served as alberta’s chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015.
“alberta’s hospital system, especially icus are under more killing stress than at any time in the province’s history,” the letter states.
“all albertans have and do depend on our acute-care hospitals. we are within days of being forced to implement a triage protocol which will force health-care workers to make life and death decisions on who will get scarce resources, like ventilators.”
alberta’s icus are facing immense pressure as the number of patients needing care continues to rise during the fourth wave of covid-19.
as of sunday morning, ahs said there were 302 patients in alberta’s 368 available icu beds, the majority of whom have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. on friday, the last day data was available, alberta had 1,061 covid-19 patients in hospitals, including 243 in icus.
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including the 195 surge beds alberta has brought online to deal with the strain, alberta’s icu capacity sits at 82 per cent. but the icus are operating at 175 per cent of their baseline capacity.
last week, dr. verna yiu, ahs president and ceo, said part of the reason why alberta icus have been able to keep pace with new admissions is because of the number of deaths that are occurring daily. over the past seven days, alberta has reported an average of 14 daily deaths from covid-19.
the letter from talbot and gibney calls for copping to implement seven measures, including immediately beginning transfers of alberta icu patients out-of-province, making vaccine passports mandatory to access all non-essential services and making vaccines mandatory for all employees of essential and non-essential businesses.
it also calls on the province to restore contact tracing of patients who test positive for covid-19 and to mandate masking indoors in schools, including in classrooms.
as for the so-called fire break, the doctors are asking for the four-week closure of nightclubs, casinos, bars and indoor dining at restaurants, the closure of gyms and indoor sports, and strictly limiting capacity at stores, malls and places of worship.
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talbot said in an interview with postmedia the measures are now necessary because of intense pressure on alberta’s hospital system across all five health zones. that pressure is inhibiting immunized albertans from getting care, including the cancellation of all non-urgent surgeries, he said.
“no matter how you want to score this one, we’re in massive trouble,” talbot said.
“with every day that (copping) doesn’t take action, we’re looking at another 15 albertans dead, more pressure on the icu system and potentially making triage decisions of life and death which are not appealable by the families of the people who are told they are going to be denied service because there isn’t an icu bed for them.”
steve buick, copping’s press secretary, said in a statement to postmedia they are supporting ahs in every way possible to continue to provide care to critically sick patients.
“we have put proven measures in place to work to bend the curve and protect the health system,” buick said. “similar measures successfully overcame previous waves, and we are working hard to overcome this current crisis.”
copping has a clear mandate from premier jason kenney to increase the health system’s capacity, increase vaccine coverage and help prepare for future waves without the disruption seen now, buick explained.
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though the government has reached out to other provinces and federal agencies “as part of contingency planning,” buick said no patients have been transferred out of province and no specific federal assistance has been requested.
“we’ll update albertans if and as decisions are made on any requests,” he said.
as of friday, 82.3 per cent of eligible albertans are partially immunized against covid-19, and 73.4 per cent are fully immunized. those numbers have seen a boost in the last week after alberta announced its vaccine passport system, dubbed the “restrictions exemption program.” among albertans of all ages, 70 per cent have at least one shot and 62.4 per cent have two.
talbot argued the one-in-five eligible albertans who haven’t gotten vaccinated are “clogging up” the hospitals for those who need elective surgeries or critical-care treatment.
he said the letter is directed to copping with hopes the new health minister can chart a new course on alberta’s covid-19 response.
“there are two major jobs a health minister has,” talbot said. “the first is to protect the health of albertans and the second is to keep the acute-care health system functioning. and both of those are in peril.
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“i don’t know how much more information the minister will require to recognize now is the time to take urgent action.”
— with files from the edmonton journal
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