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home / 世界杯决赛2022

breakenridge: for a government keen on avoiding lockdowns, why is alberta's omicron defence so apathetic?

with just over three months until jason kenney faces a ...

by rob breakenridge

dec 21 2021
read time 3 minute read
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health minister jason copping updates alberta’s response to the covid-19 pandemic during a news conference in calgary on wednesday, december 15, 2021. gavin young / postmedia file
with just over three months until jason kenney faces a pivotal leadership review, he now faces the prospect of going into that review as either the premier who botched a fifth wave so quickly after botching the fourth or as the premier who imposed another lockdown.
given the circumstances of kenney’s recent and current woes, either scenario would likely spell doom for his political fortunes. in fairness, there’s probably a limit to the extent to which a premier can directly affect a province’s pandemic trajectory and navigating alberta’s polarized public opinion can’t be easy.
ultimately, though, one man’s political future isn’t our biggest concern at the moment. however, it does make the government’s lack of urgency at the moment all the more curious.
that’s not to say the government hasn’t acted. last week, hundreds of thousands of rapid tests were made available to albertans and booster shot eligibility opened up to those aged 50 and over.
however, the main thrust of last week’s announcement by the premier was the easing of restrictions around household gatherings. there may be some logic to adjusting those measures for the holidays, but the optics of easing restrictions — for the unvaccinated, no less — at a time when concern is spiking over omicron’s spread was strange, to say the least.
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to then have the premier’s office take credit for easing restrictions while also scolding media outlets for not also framing the restrictions as strict is likely a testament to just how worried they are about public opinion right now — from both those who want tougher action and those who think the rules are already too restrictive.
surely, it is the preference of all sides to avoid tougher measures, but the key to that is avoiding the very circumstances that might necessitate such measures in the first place. we seem further behind other jurisdictions in facing an omicron surge and we shouldn’t squander whatever additional time we might have.
perhaps we could borrow a page from ontario’s government, which has gone on a “wartime footing,” as one official put it.
ontario is shortening the required interval for a third dose from six months to three months and has now made everyone aged 18 and over eligible to book a booster shot. as ontario premier doug ford put it, “nothing matters more than getting these third shots into arms.”
alberta health minister jason copping said in an interview with global news last week that they were “considering” similar changes, but that’s as far as things seemed to go last week. booster doses might not be enough to preclude a significant omicron wave, but for a government so intent on avoiding restrictions, it’s a strangely apathetic attitude.
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we were reassured by federal officials last week that there is sufficient supply to provide both booster doses as well as first and second doses to those still requiring them. in order to ensure our health-care system is protected — the metric that will dictate the need for restrictions — we need to pull out all the stops in maximizing our daily administration of doses. third doses are most protective against infection, but two doses still convey strong protection against severe outcomes and hospitalizations.
between the need and the supply, we should be able to set a reasonable, yet ambitious target. let’s mobilize whatever resources are needed and figure out how and where to best deploy them.
it’s probably too late at this point to substantially add to alberta’s immunological defences prior to christmas and new year’s gatherings, not to mention some of the other big events happening in alberta over the next couple of weeks. january is likely to be a difficult month.
it is in the interests of our health-care system, our businesses and our citizens to do everything we can now to blunt omicron’s impact. it’s also very much in the interest of a premier fighting for his political life.

“afternoons with rob breakenridge” airs weekdays 12:30-3 p.m. on 770 chqr rob.breakenridge@corusent.com   twitter: @robbreakenridge

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