Hinshaw to give COVID-19 update Thursday

EDMONTON – Albertans will hear from health leaders again Thursday, just a day after the government announced a vaccine passport program.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services President and CEO Verna Yiu will give a COVID-19 update at 3:30 p.m.

It’s unclear what specifically will be discussed outside of the daily COVID-19 cases, but some have been calling for further clarity around the health restrictions announced Wednesday.

We will have the update streamed on this website and our Facebook page.

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Hinshaw, along with Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minster Tyler Shandro, has recently come under fire for allowing the COVID-19 situation to get so bad over the last couple of months.

A political scientist recently told CityNews that it might be time for the aforementioned people to resign.

“This is a government that has breached personal responsibility,” said Duane Bratt of Mount Royal University.

“That has been their mantra that they have refused to bring in government policies because they want individuals to take ownership of their own actions. Where is the individual ownership of the actions of the health minister, premier, and chief medical officer of health?”

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The trio was peppered with questions about just that at Wednesday’s update. They apologized for what was a gross misinterpretation of where the pandemic was headed.

Hinshaw said earlier this week that she may have lulled Albertans into a false sense of security over COVID-19 and she apologized for claiming that the pandemic was over back in July.

The fourth wave has devastated Alberta. Vaccination rates have slowed, despite incentives from the government, and ICU admissions have continued to climb.

As of Wednesday, there were 877 people in hospital, with 218 people in the ICU.

Of those currently in the ICU with COVID-19, 194 are unvaccinated.