Caution is needed when going on a dangerous journey. The COViD-19 trek isn’t over yet, Alberta is not out of the woods yet.
Deena Hinshaw, Alberta chief medical officer of health, announced last week what is virtually the removal of all COVID-19 protocols effective Aug. 16.
As of mid-August, those people who test positive for COVID-19 will not have to self-isolate. To her credit, Hinshaw highly recommended that anyone with COVID-19 continue to self-isolate.
It would be hard to believe that anyone would be irresponsible enough not to do so, but in these days of don’t mess with my rights, who knows?
The announcement was made in conjunction with Albertans continuing to vaccinate — and the province is at 65 per cent of those eligible — under the age of 12 — being fully vaccinated.
Thanks to vaccinations, persistent testing and Albertans following rates the hospital rates and those who are in intensive care has gone down. Unfortunately, testing will also all but go by the wayside effective Aug. 31.
Hinshaw also announced masking will not be needed for youths going back to school in the fall – despite the fact many school-aged students are under 12 and not eligible for vaccinations.
There will be plenty of concerns from parents and school administrators have been handed a hot potato from the government.
As a result there have been loud requests from the Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Paul Boucher as well as from Dr. Theresa Tam, chief medical officer of Canada that maybe Alberta should slow down.
They are right.
As of July 1, life was nearly at normal — what with the Calgary Stampede, in-person dining... There’s no need to get too far ahead of the game. It’s time not to take a step back like has happened in the past with lockdowns crippling businesses, but instead stay the course until Alberta is out of the woods.
