COVID-19 update: Alberta sees 70 COVID deaths in past week; U.S. will share COVID-19 vaccine technology

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With COVID-19 news changing every day, we have created this file to keep you up-to-date on all the latest stories and information in and around Edmonton.

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Are you experiencing COVID-19 symptoms?

Before calling Health Link use the COVID-19 Assessment & Testing Tool to check symptoms.

Health Link continues to experience high daily call volumes and Alberta Health Services (AHS) is encouraging all Albertans to assess their symptoms or the symptoms of someone they are caring for using the online assessment and testing tool before calling Health Link.

AHS has updated the COVID-19 Assessment and Testing Tool to make it easier for Albertans to assess their symptoms, determine if they should talk to someone about their symptoms, such as their doctor or Health Link staff, access self-care tips to help manage mild COVID-19 symptoms at home and to determine whether or not they are eligible for PCR testing.

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The tool has up-to-date guidance for adults, children and youth and is available at ahs.ca/covidscreen.

What’s happening now

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Help us tell the COVID-19 story in Edmonton

As Alberta continues to navigate the unpredictable waves of COVID-19, we’re looking to hear your stories on this evolving situation.

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Thursday

‘A nation forever changed’: Biden honours 1 million Americans dead from COVID

Reuters

President Joe Biden on Thursday commemorated the death of 1 million people in the Unites States from COVID-19, marking what he called “a tragic milestone” and urging Americans to “remain vigilant” amid the ongoing pandemic.

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Thursday

North Korea kept COVID our all this time. Or it’s been lying

Bloomberg News

Few health experts believe North Korea managed to keep out COVID-19 since early 2020. So when Kim Jong Un officially confirmed the nation’s first case on Thursday, the question was “Why now?”

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Kim has long trumpeted his virus-control measures as evidence of his nation’s superiority, calling the efforts as a “shining success.” He sealed the border, crippling an already anemic economy and banned athletes from two Olympics. To keep the disease out, his troops even shot, killed and burned the body of a South Korean government employee who drifted near a nautical border.

All along, outsiders speculated that COVID was already in North Korea, despite its isolation. The commander of U.S. Forces Korea said as early as July 2020 the virus had almost certainly made its way into the country, and both China and Russia had reported outbreaks near their borders with North Korea.

Now, after 520 million cases have been reported around the world, North Korea has acknowledged that the virus indeed has arrived — leaving Turkmenistan as the only nation still claiming to have zero cases. Kim, wearing a mask, ordered all cities to lock down Thursday after a hastily called Politburo meeting.

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Thursday

U.S. will share COVID-19 vaccine technology, Biden tells global summit

Reuters

WASHINGTON — The United States will share technologies used to make COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization and is working to expand rapid testing and antiviral treatments for hard-to-reach populations, President Joe Biden said on Thursday.

The U.S. will contribute an additional $200 million to a global health fund for future pandemic preparedness at the World Bank, he said, bringing its total contribution to $450 million.

“We are making available health technologies that are owned by the United States government, including stabilized spike protein that is used in many COVID-19 vaccines,” Biden said in his opening speech for the second global COVID-19 summit.

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The summit, jointly hosted by the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal, is being held virtually on Thursday for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats.

It is set to build on efforts and commitments made at the first global summit in September, including getting more people vaccinated, sending tests and treatments to highest-risk populations, expanding protections to health-care workers, and generating financing for pandemic preparedness.

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Thursday

Manulife results hit by COVID resurgence in Asia, but CEO sees tailwind from rising rates

Barbara Shecter

While fast-rising interest rates are hurting borrowers, insurance companies are poised to reap the benefit of a trend that makes it easier to match investments to long-term liabilities and spurs the popularity of some financial products such as annuities.

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“Interest rates generally are positive for the insurance industry and they’re certainly a positive for Manulife, and they manifest themselves in a variety of ways,” Roy Gori, chief executive of Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp., said in an interview Wednesday.

“Higher rates make our products more attractive (and) they also drive higher margins. When you think about long liabilities, when you are able to reinvest your assets at higher rates, where you do have a significant fixed-income portfolio, that translates into improved profitability.”

The impact won’t be seen overnight, Gori said, but rather in the long-term value of the business.

He said the inflation that is causing central banks around the world to raise rates at a fairly rapid pace tends to drive up costs, but he expects that to be offset by past efforts to digitize Manulife’s insurance and wealth management processes. For example, 90 per cent of claims are now paid digitally, and auto-underwriting is being used for more than 70 per cent of new business.

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Thursday

Beijing denies lockdown rumors as Shanghai hunts elusive COVID

Reuters

SHANGHAI/BEIJING — Beijing denied it was heading for lockdown as panic buying gripped the capital on Thursday, while Shanghai combed the city for lingering COVID-19 cases in the hope of clearing the way to escape from weeks of painful restrictions.

Daily cases in Beijing have remained in the dozens, a tiny fraction of the outbreak in Shanghai and what other cities around the world now shrug off as they look to “live with the virus.”

But with gradually tightening curbs in China’s capital – most recently suspending taxi services in some virus-hit districts – rumors swirled on Thursday that it was headed for lockdown, something Beijing has avoided during the entire pandemic.

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There were chaotic scenes inside some supermarkets late on Thursday as residents rushed to stock up on supplies while anxiously listening to Beijing’s daily COVID news conference on their phones.

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Wednesday

Alberta sees 70 COVID deaths in past week, but hospitalizations begin to decline

Madeline Smith, Edmonton Journal

The number of people hospitalized due to COVID in Alberta is finally on the decline in the latest sign of a receding wave of virus, but COVID is just one of the factors putting extreme pressure on acute care.

Alberta’s Health Minister Jason Copping said Wednesday that there’s evidence that viral transmission is slowing, including a downward trend in the amount of virus in wastewater for most of Alberta. But hospital occupancy is high in Edmonton and Calgary, and Copping said there are complexities behind the surge.

COVID, the opioid crisis and chronic medical issues that may have worsened over the past two years are all driving up the need for hospital care.

“The big answer to address this is building more capacity within our system, and that takes time,” Copping said, adding that he’ll be announcing “progress” on that work in the coming days.

As of May 9, there are 1,225 people hospitalized with COVID — 42 fewer than the previous week. Of the Albertans in hospital, 37 in ICU.

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Wednesday

Forty per cent of Canadians would take less pay to work from home, survey finds

Carly Penrose, National Post

Nearly two in five (36 per cent) Canadian remote or partly remote workers say they would be willing to take a lower-paying job for the option to work from home, compared to a higher-paying role that requires full-time work at the office, according to an Ipsos survey*.

The same survey, which polled 585 Canadian workers aged 18 and older, reported nearly one-third (32 per cent) of respondents would change jobs if their employer required them to work exclusively from the office — and 15 per cent have already switched jobs for that reason.

According to Statistics Canada, four per cent of workers were working mostly-remotely in 2016, but by 2021, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that number increased to 32 per cent. Even when the pandemic is over, though, it appears workers are not eager to be back in the office full-time.

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“Given unemployment rates right now, I think organizations have to be very thoughtful about the kinds of settings they offer for people working for their company,” said Terri Griffith, a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University.

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Wednesday

Toronto Pearson travellers face long waits as airport hit by double whammy of COVID screening and staff shortages

Bloomberg News

Canadians traveling through Toronto Pearson International Airport are facing lengthy wait times and the situation is likely to worsen in coming weeks.

The airport is being hit with a double whammy of staffing shortages and longer processing times due to public health screening measures, according to Greater Toronto Airports Authority spokesperson Tori Gass. The COVID-19 measures can double or even quadruple the required processing time, she said.

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“We are forced to sort of hold passengers on their airplanes because of capacity issues,” Gass said. “There’s not enough space inside the terminal.”

The bottlenecks are expected to worsen during the busy summer season with the number of international passengers expected to rise to around 45,000 a day from 30,000 currently, Gass said.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has put in place additional measures to increase staffing in the coming weeks, according to the office of Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.

“As the air sector continues to recover, staffing remains an issue that the industry is working as quickly as possible to resolve,” his office said in an emailed statement.

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Wednesday

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China censors WHO chief’s call to end ‘zero covid’ controls

Washington Post

When the head of the World Health Organization described China’s hard-line “zero covid” policy as not “sustainable,” the reaction in China on Wednesday was swift – his comments were censored and he was branded “irresponsible.”

Authorities in China have blocked debate over its controversial approach of constantly striving for zero coronavirus infections through draconian lockdowns. Researchers have warned that abandoning the policy would unleash a “tsunami” of coronavirus cases.

In a briefing Tuesday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China to rethink its severe covid controls in light of the more-transmissible omicron coronavirus variant.

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“We don’t think that it is sustainable, considering the behavior of the virus and what we anticipate in the future,” he said, adding that the health body had discussed the issue with Chinese experts. “We indicated that the approach will not be sustainable. . . . A shift would be very important.”

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Wednesday

RCMP didn’t ask for Emergencies Act to be invoked, commissioner tells Commons committee

Ryan Tumilty, National Post

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told MPs the Emergencies Act gave police across the country the tools to end Freedom Convoy protests, but said her force did not ask for the act to be invoked.

Lucki told MPs that the RCMP didn’t directly request the act, but she said the RCMP was in discussions in the week before the act was invoked. She said in a variety of meetings the idea was raised, but it was the government’s decision to use it.

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“We were the ones who would be using those authorities so we were consulted to see if they would be of any use to police,” she said.

She said the act was enormously helpful, because it reduced the size of the Ottawa protest, which made it easier to finally move in and clear it.

“The measures enacted under the emergencies act provided all police officers across the country, not just the RCMP, with the ability to deal with blockades and unlawful public assemblies,” she told MPs

Lucki and CSIS director David Vigneault testified late Tuesday night at the parliamentary committee looking into the invocation of the act.

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Tuesday

RCMP cleared border blockades without Emergencies Act powers, committee hears

The Canadian Press

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Extraordinary powers granted to police under the Emergencies Act weren’t used to clear protest blockades at Canada’s border crossings, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said Tuesday.

Lucki testified virtually at a House of Commons committee made up of members of Parliament and senators tasked with studying how the Emergencies Act powers were used.

“In RCMP jurisdiction, we successfully used a measured approach and existing legislation to resolve border blockades,” Lucki told the committee.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the government planned to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 in response to blockades at border crossings and in Ottawa.

Hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets in the city with big rigs and other trucks to protest COVID-19 restrictions, vaccine mandates and Trudeau’s government. Officials described the three-week protest as an “occupation” of Ottawa’s downtown.

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Protesters also blocked border crossings at Coutts, Alta., Windsor, Ont., and Emerson, Man., and the pacific highway crossing in B.C. — effectively corking trade between Canada and the United States.

By invoking the act, the government granted police and financial institutions extraordinary powers to freeze bank accounts of organizers, create zones where people were not allowed to protest, ban people from supporting the protest and compel tow truck companies to help them clear out vehicles.

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Tuesday

NHL teams setting their own itineraries to avoid COVID-19 testing requirements at US-Canada border

Carly Penrose

Some NHL teams are coming up with alternate routes across the US-Canada border this playoff season to avoid mandatory COVID-19 testing for international flights entering the US.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers both avoided testing requirements by taking buses across the border into the US before then catching flights to continue their series in Tampa Bay and Los Angeles, respectively.

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe told CBC, “I think the biggest thing at this point of the year really is just to do all that we can to avoid any false positives or anything that might come up that would impact our group.”

Keefe said his team was following the lead of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Raptors’ both of which crossed the border into Buffalo by bus before flying to their destinations for away games during their seasons.

The Edmonton Oilers had a multi-leg journey beginning after their game Wednesday night, when the team flew from Edmonton to Vancouver where they stayed overnight in a hotel before bussing across the border to Washington State and then catching a plane to LA. A trip with a total transit time of approximately six hours—not including overnight stays—whereas a direct flight from Edmonton to LA takes approximately three and a half hours.

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Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft told reporters players were involved in the travel decisions and enjoyed the travel day, “we thought it was the smartest move for our group,” he said.

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Tuesday

Scientists question the point of swabs up everyone’s nose: ‘We might have overdone it’

Reuters

For many people worldwide, having cotton swabs thrust up their nose or down their throat to test for COVID-19 has become a routine and familiar annoyance.

But two years into the pandemic, health officials in some countries are questioning the merits of repeated, mass testing when it comes to containing infections, particularly considering the billions it costs.

Chief among them is Denmark, which championed one of the world’s most prolific COVID testing regimes early on. Lawmakers are now demanding a close study of whether that policy was effective.

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“We’ve tested so much more than other countries that we might have overdone it,” said Jens Lundgren, professor of infectious diseases at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, and member of the government’s COVID advisory group.

Japan avoided large-scale testing and yet weathered the pandemic relatively well, based on infection and death rates. Other countries, including Britain and Spain, have scaled back testing.

Yet repeated testing of entire cities remains a central part of the “zero-COVID” plan in China, where leaders have threatened action against critics.

“We need to learn, and no one did it perfectly,” said Dale Fisher, chair of the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.

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Tuesday

Canadians are clinging to cash as a savings strategy during the pandemic: RBC

Stephanie Hughes, Financial Post

Most Canadians plan to keep cash on hand. Photo by Francis Racine/Standard-Freehold/Postmedia Network files

The pandemic has not spelled the death of cash as many suspected it would. In fact, demand for hard currencies as a savings vehicle has gone in the opposite direction as demand reached its highest level in 60 years.

Cash withdrawals surged at the onset of the pandemic as circulating notes increased twice as much as expected in 2020 and remained elevated in the following year, according to an April 14 Bank of Canada report.

The Royal Bank of Canada noted in a May 9 report that cash was used more as a savings vehicle rather than for transactions. The Bank of Canada’s data tracking transactions found that the volume of cash purchases dropped precipitously from 54 per cent in 2009 to only 22 per cent in 2020.

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RBC analyst Josh Nye has a few reasons why Canadians are clutching onto cash: for one, there is an overall correlation with crises and the need to have hard cash on hand. Nye wrote that the demand for cash was pronounced over 20 years ago amid fears that the Y2K programming bug would wipe out the worldwide network of ATMs and digital payment systems. This “dash for cash” also resurfaced during the global financial crisis in 2008 when consumers were unsure of whether banks could stay afloat.

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Letter of the day

Insulting province a poor strategy

Dear Mayor Sohi, I think I may be able to teach you a few things about asking people for money. I would start by not telling the UCP government that they did a poor job handling COVID and that you (City of Edmonton) had a better handle on masking, et cetera, earlier in 2022. Insulting the hand that feeds is a poor strategy. Next time, try and put your liberal agenda aside and consider a more neutral approach.

James Goddard, Edmonton

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