(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"It's time to act"

Health unions urge Albertans to start taking pandemic seriously

Dec 5, 2020 | 11:24 AM

Health sector unions are imploring Albertans to stay home this weekend, or to mask up if they must go out.

Their call comes after Alberta recorded another 1,828 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, and a one-day record of 1,854 on Thursday.

590 Albertans have died from the virus which has now been in Alberta for nine months. Fifteen more deaths were tallied on Friday.

“Our members and other health care workers are fearful for their patients and deeply worried about their own safety,” United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith says. “We cannot get the coronavirus under control if Albertans won’t take the measures that are necessary to suppress it in the absence of effective action by the government.

“Please don’t go out this weekend,” Smith adds. “Think of yourself, your family and neighbours, and the ability of your health care workers to care for Albertans who are already sick with COVID-19 as staffing shortages grow more severe.”

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Smith says staff are terrified of the scenarios that could unfold if more Albertans don’t start to take the situation seriously.

“It’s time for the government to step in and take meaningful action.”

Mike Parker, President of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, is also calling on the provincial government to implement and enforce province-wide mandatory masking rules and a significant lockdown while there is still time.

“Since our leaders aren’t enforcing their own rules, it’s up to Albertans to take care of ourselves,” Parker said. “In our rush to reopen early, we have put our own friends, families and neighbours at risk.”

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is also chiming in, with President Guy Smith saying health care workers can’t squash COVID-19 on their own.

“We need everyone to get on board with respecting public health measures,” he says. “It’s clear that the UCP is not doing what is necessary to protect Albertans from the pandemic. So it’s up to us to keep one another safe. We need to take this seriously.”

The AUPE’s Smith says there is no economy without a health care system and healthy workers.

“It’s time to act.”

As of Friday, there are 533 people in hospital, a one-day increase of 22, and there are 99 people in ICU, up two from Thursday.

There are 18,243 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, the most of any province or territory, with the next closest being Ontario with 14,997. Alberta also has the second highest rate of active cases/100,000 people at 417, behind only Manitoba at 670, and more than four times that of Ontario at 103.