Plan to lift COVID-19 measures like being 'abandoned' by government, say immunocompromised Albertans

Ian Wiebe isn't sure how much time he has left.

The 38-year-old Edmonton laywer has stage four terminal colon cancer and will leave behind a young son, his wife, other family and friends. Because of his cancer, the threat of the novel coronavirus has severely restricted what he and his family can do together safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One lifeline for Wiebe was Alberta's Restrictions Exemption Program (REP). He said being in environments where he knew the people around him were vaccinated made him feel safer to go out once in a while. 

"It was such a relief when it was being implemented," he told CBC News. 

"It created a situation where my wife and I were able to say, at least occasionally, 'Hey, let's go out for a meal, let's go to a place that we really like.'"

Last Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney announced that a roadmap for lifting pandemic restrictions should be coming this week — despite the Omicron variant still having a significant impact on the health-care system.

The announcement came amid pressure from United Conservative MLAs to remove various public health restrictions.

Wiebe worries the province is giving up, noting that the current restrictions aren't overly restrictive anyway. 

"It would make much more sense to keep the restrictions that we have, which still allow people to go about and do basically what they want," he said.

"It just feels like maintaining the REP is a way to look out for each other, and to keep on doing that at least until [Alberta's] actually in a situation where cases are low, where transmission is low."

There are many things Wiebe said he had wanted to do before he was gone, but are simply not possible — something he he knows he's not alone in.

Stacy McFarlane, a 37-year-old lawyer in Calgary, lives with Type 1 diabetes — and has for more than 30 years. Her health condition has limited her ability to enjoy times with her partner, friends and family during the pandemic.

Much like Wiebe, the REP gave her more comfort in spending time outside her home.

"Lots of people are tired of all the restrictions and just tired of the situation we're in. I am too," McFarlane said. "But it feels like being abandoned by the government."