If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we all need each other to get through this.
It’s incredibly discouraging to see blatant disregard for public health measures over the weekend at the Bowden rodeo as Alberta is in the midst of out-of-control spread of COVID-19 with the highest case count of any provinces or states last week.
It’s an insult to all those who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for the public good over the past 15 months.
Ontario is garnering a lot of the headlines for its handling of the pandemic, but a cursory glance at the numbers adjusted for population will show that Alberta has a much higher case count.
Hospitals and intensive care units are filling up fast, surgeries are being postponed and health officials are proactively looking at triage options for the ICU.
Yes, there have been blunders by the federal government with the procurement of vaccines and other measures that have put the provinces in a bad position.
But every province has had to overcome those obstacles, this is not unique to Alberta.
Premier Kenney announced restrictions on hot-spot locations within the province on April 30. Okotoks met the threshold with active cases hitting a pandemic high of 251 on May 3. The Premier added more stringent restrictions for the province could be coming as soon as mid-week.
Messaging from the Province on the need for restrictions has been, at best, inconsistent and, at worst, outright damaging.
When we have the Premier doubting if people will actually follow the rules, when we have MLAs declaring that restrictions should not be in place it’s quite problematic when further restrictions are instituted.
Communication matters.
The sense of community, that resolve that has taken this province through tough times, is needed now more than ever.
