‘New normal’ the main focus of health mandate court battle day 3

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health spent the day in court Wednesday, answering questions about what she said in her early public updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and what she meant when referring to a ‘new normal’.

Day three of the cross-examination of Dr. Deena Hinshaw in a hearing challenging Alberta’s public health orders focused largely on transcripts of her press conferences from March 2020 to summer 2021.

Multiple instances of Hinshaw telling the public that COVID-19 was our ‘new normal’ were brought up by lawyer Leighton Grey.

Grey keeps coming back to Hinshaw using the term the 'new normal' in updates dating back to March 2020.

Hinshaw says her definition of a new normal "is understanding that we as a community are facing a novel threat, and the utilization of tools to mitigate threat at that time"

— Carly Robinson (@CarlyDRobinson) April 6, 2022

“This new normal is becoming a touchstone in your addresses,” said Grey, who is one of two lawyers representing a group of plaintiffs, including a gym owner and two Baptist churches.

“My definition of the new normal,” Dr. Hinshaw told a Calgary courtroom virtually, “is understanding that we as a community are facing a novel threat, and the utilization of tools to mitigate threat at that time.”

Saying things like handwashing, social distancing and staying home when sick were part of those early public health recommendations she was referring to in March 2020. Recommendations around masking came later as evidence of the effectiveness of the added layer of protection emerged.

There was a question about schools during fall 2020, with kids not 'being a driver of transmission' but rather reflections of community spread.

Hinshaw reminded the decision to move high school online was 'operation' by Alberta education, not CMHO order

— Carly Robinson (@CarlyDRobinson) April 6, 2022

Hinshaw does not deny that public health restrictions to manage the spread of COVID-19 had an impact on the mental health of Albertans but pushed back against the assertion that mandates were the only reason.

Rath asked about a survey referenced by Hinshaw in February 2021 by the Health Quality Council of Alberta that found 70 per cent of Albertans experienced stress, and 46 per cent reported loneliness.

“I put it to you that these mental health issues would be due to the restrictions,” said Grey, “this new normal that had been imposed quite suddenly.”

RELATED: Hinshaw defends ‘limits to personal freedoms’ in court

Hinshaw pointed out that the survey in question had been conducted in Fall 2020, when Alberta had few mandatory restrictions but some voluntary recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19. Testifying, that while restrictions could have an impact, it’s difficult to separate the decline in mental health from the unknown of the pandemic as a whole and public health orders.

“I don’t think it’s possible to carve out what proportion is the pandemic as a whole, and which proportion is due to non-pharmaceutical interventions.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to carve out what proportion is the pandemic as a whole, and which proportion is due to non-pharmaceutical interventions" says Hinshaw, when asked if the decline in mental health was due to "new normal"

— Carly Robinson (@CarlyDRobinson) April 6, 2022

Hinshaw is back in court for a fourth day of cross-examination Thursday.