Editor:
With massively different COVID health directives issued even by jurisdictions as close to B.C. as Alberta, we must insist that our elected representatives move to take all measures to ensure the protection of our residents, which is the number one obligation of government. No adult unvaccinated and without a medical exemption should be allowed to enter our province – at least temporarily.
How bad is this? Incredibly, Alberta’s chief medical officer, Deena Hinshaw, has stated contact tracers will no longer notify close contacts of exposure, except for high-risk settings, and testing outside of clinics and hospitals is set to stop on Aug. 31. That means the provincial government will have little ability to track or manage outbreaks. Moreover, people who test positive for COVID-19 are no longer required to self-isolate. Considering how 34 per cent of Alberta’s total population – almost 1.5 million people – do not have a single shot of vaccine, they are ripe to acquire and pass on the Delta variant, which is far more infectious than any prior variant.
As a Globe and Mail opinion piece recently commented on this development in our neighbouring province: “We can all look forward to COVID-19-positive individuals being legally present everywhere, from busy grocery stores to stadiums filled with more than 15,000 people. Apparently superspreader events are now government endorsed.” That is reckless and unacceptable. It must never be allowed to be replicated here.
Jürgen Dankwort, Sechelt
