Category Archives: Health

NDP ready for 2022 byelection as Notley blasts Alberta’s handling of COVID-19

By Jenna Hamilton, Fort McMurray Today, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel  Notley  said lifting COVID-19 restrictions for what the province called “the best summer ever” was “the government’s biggest failure” this past year.

In a year-end interview, Notley said it was this decision that worsened the fourth wave of the virus and pushed Alberta’s health care system to its breaking point.

Continue reading NDP ready for 2022 byelection as Notley blasts Alberta’s handling of COVID-19

BC Should Be Doing More Rapid Testing, Experts Say

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the highly transmissible Omicron variant takes hold, British Columbia is one of the only provinces not making rapid antigen tests  widely available to the public.

Rapid tests can be  administered at home and measure whether someone has COVID-19 and is  likely to infect others. They return results in as little as 15 minutes.

B.C. has received three kinds of tests from  the federal government: Abbott ID Now, Abbott PanBio and BD Veritor.  None are packaged for use at home.

Continue reading BC Should Be Doing More Rapid Testing, Experts Say

Unvaccinated People Drive Up COVID Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

COVID-19 cases appear to have stabilized or decreasing in most parts of British Columbia, but more than 450,000 people who have chosen not to  be vaccinated remain at much greater risk of illness and death.

Continue reading Unvaccinated People Drive Up COVID Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths