Documents show recommendations, warnings from Alta. chief medical officer of health
CTV
The Provincial Court of Alberta released documents on Wednesday that provide a glimpse into how Alberta's United Conservative government decided when to begin removing provincial COVID-19 restrictions last February.
The Provincial Court of Alberta released documents on Wednesday that provide a glimpse into how Alberta's United Conservative government decided when to begin removing provincial COVID-19 restrictions last February.
The documents, previously confidential, were ordered by provincial court to be produced after the parents of five immunocompromised children and the Alberta Federation of Labour sued the government over the decision to lift the mask mandate.
Premier Jason Kenney announced on Feb. 8 that the province would be lifting the vaccine passport system and only five days later, end the school mask mandate.
The decision was made shortly after the UCP COVID cabinet committee met and weighed options presented by Health Minister Jason Copping on how to move forward as Alberta moved from the pandemic phase of COVID-19 to the transition phase to the endemic phase.
The document states that Alberta would be leading the way into the endemic phase with a “gradual removal of public health measures” to decrease risk.
However, the document warns that “lifting restrictions should begin only once pressures on the health-care system have sufficiently eased and are likely to continue easing.”
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided recommendations to the government for going forward with lifting all restrictions, which included ramping up the capacity of the health-care system. She warned it would become overwhelmed and warned of additional waves as a result of increased exposure.
