Transmission, sewage levels and hospitalizations are rising, but politicians and health officials have not yet described the wave as a “sixth wave”, despite claims by doctors and scientists that it is here. During a news conference Wednesday, Alberta’s chief medical officer acknowledged the rising numbers, noting that positivity rates had generally risen (albeit to a seven-day high of 26.6 percent). However, Dr. Dina Hinshaw stopped being committed to the idea that Alberta is in the sixth wave. “The magnitude of this increase, how long it will last – these are questions to which we do not yet know the answers,” he said. “Whatever we call it, whether it is called the sixth wave or we are just talking about the rise of the transmission we have seen, surely we all know the kinds of things that can help protect us and those around us. This is not the case with Dr. Noel Gibney, an emeritus professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Alberta. “It’s dangerous because it prevents messages from coming out that CO COVID has not disappeared,” he said. “I think the messages we get from the countryside are trying to downplay the importance of where we are … If people do not fully understand where we are – then we are really in the early stages of a sixth wave, where the numbers could actually be higher. “than anything else we’ve experienced in the past – I think that puts the public in a bad position.” COVID-19 hospitalizations did not have time to decrease significantly after the fifth wave before they began to increase again. And Gibney said hospitals – especially those in Calgary and Edmonton – are under significant pressure. The latest figures show that, as of Monday, there were 1,053 people in the hospital with COVID-19, of whom 48 were in the intensive care unit. However, both Health Secretary Jason Kopping and Prime Minister Jason Kenney have recently stated that they do not expect hospitals to be pressured to the point of requiring the reintroduction of public health measures. “We may well see hospitalization numbers that potentially exceed anything we have seen so far. And so for the government to say we are not under pressure, I think, is misleading,” Gibney said. Timothy Caulfield, Canada’s chair of health law and policy research at the University of Alberta, says he believes many Alberts are frustrated with limited access to data and the way the government is shaping COVID. 19. (Sam Martin / CBC)
Other experts agree on the need for a clear statement that the sixth wave has arrived. “I think it matters because it signals to the public that this is not over – we still need to take steps to protect ourselves and our loved ones and to protect our healthcare system,” said Timothy Caulfield, a Canadian research firm. Chair in Law and Health Policy at the University of Alberta. “By not acknowledging what is happening, I think you are calling on the public not to acknowledge it, too, and that is not the role of government. A government must lead. It must lead this debate, and it is not.” The message coming from the Alberta government, according to Caulfield, is that people need to make their own risk assessments. But with a dramatic drop in reporting and monitoring, he said, there is no longer enough data to do so. “I think the Albertans have been left in a very confused situation,” he said, noting that he believes many Albertans are disappointed. “[They] “They would like to have more clarity about what is needed right now in terms of public health, and I also think they would like to have more clarity about where the government that COVID is going to in this province thinks.” Part of the problem, according to Caulfield, is that the Alberta government allows politics to drive these health policy decisions. “I think the Alberta government, and to be honest, I think there are a lot of governments around the world that, from a political point of view, have sunk into a corner,” he said. “They do not want to sound like there is any retreat. And I understand that from a political point of view. But these decisions should be guided by public health needs and what the numbers really say.” Gibney, meanwhile, said it was time to reconsider the mask order, encourage boosting, increase PCR testing, and improve access to antiviral therapy in an effort to protect as many people as possible. “COVID has not disappeared. COVID is not endemic. COVID is still largely a pandemic.”