CAF, Red Cross, and health-care staff from other provinces heading to Alberta hospitals

Premier Jason Kenney has announced other provinces will assist Alberta’s overwhelmed health-care system.
He says the province is also finalizing arrangements with the Canadian Armed Forces to bring eight to 10 ICU-trained staff members, who will likely be deployed in Edmonton. This will help staff two additional ICU beds.

The province is also expecting up to 20 medical staff from the Red Cross, some with general training and others with ICU experience. They will be sent to the Red Deer Regional Hospital.

Newfoundland and Labrador have agreed to send six ICU-trained staff to Fort McMurray, to staff an additional four to five ICU beds.

Currently, there are a total of 307 patients in Alberta ICUs – 247 of them with COVID-19.

In a statement AHS said over the past seven days, the number of patients in ICUs increased by six per cent with the overall provincial ICU capacity at 83 per cent.

The North zone leads the province for ICU capacity, operating at 100 per cent capacity. Edmonton is at 86 per cent, white the South zone is at 81 per cent.

VACCINE MANDATE FOR ALTA. PUBLIC SERVANTS

The premier also announced that the more than 25,000 Alberta public service employees will be required to show proof of vaccination, or regular negative test results.

Public servants will need their first dose by Oct. 31 and second dose by Nov. 30, with exemptions available for those with a medical condition.

Unvaccinated employees will need to provide a negative PCR or rapid test result every 72 hours at their own expense.

Kenney says while the rate of first dose vaccinations in the eligible population jumped from 78 per cent to nearly 84 per cent since Sept. 3, more must be done to encourage vaccination across the province.

COVID-19 DEATH TOLL CONTINUES TO CLIMB

Twenty more deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours, raising the total provincial death toll to 2,717.

There are now 20,255 active infections in Alberta, after 1,706 new cases were reported Thursday.

The province said 17,590 tests were completed on Wednesday, translating to a positivity rate of 9.6 percent.