City Notebook: Looks like vaccine efforts, incentives paying off in the Hat

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 1, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The city is now in discussions to host so-called “pop-up” vaccine clinics after encouraging results from its own campaign and a surge of coronavirus vaccinations following a provincial move to a vaccine passport system.

Those clinics, requiring walk-up service and no appointment necessary, would be held jointly with AHS and other groups as the main partner, but Merrick Brown, the city’s director of emergency management, says they want to capitalize on momentum.

“We’re very very pleased in the increase,” he told the News, citing improvement among all age groups, especially 20- to 39-year-olds, where the local rate of vaccine uptake lagged well behind the province.

As well, better convenience – as seen in two city-college-AHS clinics last month – appears to get folks to roll up their sleeve, said Brown.

“Our drive is to get to that provincial average – our rates are still lower – but there’s no cap on this other than to get everyone who is eligible to receive a vaccine,” he said.

About 2,000 Hatters in the 20- and 30-year-old age group have received at least a first shot since Sept. 9. Correspondingly, the percentage of those younger adults with vaccine coverage has seen a 14-point increase since mid-August when AHS officials singled out the group as more hesitant, but also over represented in hospital visits due to COVID.

Local vaccination for the rate for the demographic (at least one dose) is now 70.3 per cent, as of Sept. 29, behind the Alberta-wide figure of 75.5.

For the record, that translated to 12,463 Hat residents who have a shot, and 5,323 in the age group who don’t.

They are part of an estimated 12,800 Hatters older than 12 who are unvaccinated to any degree, out of about 59,000 in total. The number of children under 12 in the city is about 9,000.

One still has to wonder if the city’s COVID response will be a major factor in the approaching municipal election. If so, how will it break?

There’s been some lines drawn by candidates, who call civic COVID action to this point a bare-minimum or worse, and also lines of defence drawn.

Hatters afar

The federal election is in the books, but there’s always an update concerning the fate of a few politicians with connections to Medicine Hat.

Peter Kent, the former environment minister, who had held a Toronto-area riding for the Conservatives since 2008, announced his retirement in late 2020.

The former journalist, along with his well-known brother Arthur and three sisters, grew up in Medicine Hat in the 1950s. Their father, Arthur Peter Kent, was the editor of the News at the time.

Mike Lake, whose mother hails from Medicine Hat, was re-elected as the Conservative Party candidate for Edmonton-Wetaskiwin.

Another politician with extended family presence in the Hat, Kent Hehr, was also in the news announcing a late bid in the Calgary mayoral race but eventually decided against it citing health concerns.

One-time Hatter Mark Skagen was unsuccessful in his run for the Maverick Party in Cypress-Hills Grasslands.

Lighter fare?

As a rule, people who answer the phones at newspapers should expect to hear the unexpected.

So, eyebrows were raised last spring when an Edmonton filmmaker made contact looking for any archival material the News had about the long-forgotten Burger Baron location that once sat near the Highway 3 turnoff.

Sure, why not have a look?

Aside from some blurry electronic clippings from the early 1960s, the News couldn’t provide much to Omar Mouallem, whose father owned one of the loosely connected outlets of the mostly Alberta chain run almost exclusively by Lebanese immigrants.

It turns out his film “the Last Baron” has become quite a hit on the documentary scene. We’ll recommend it for a look.

Mouallem tackles serious issues in his other work – suicide in Alberta, for one – but may we suggest getting to the bottom of “Barney’s Chicken”?

A look ahead

City council’s final meeting of the term takes place Monday when a third-party report into how the city handled the Invest Medicine Hat contracting-out process is scheduled. As well, council will be asked to approve a major turbine replacement at the city’s main power plant ahead of schedule due to increased use during this summer’s booming power market.

100 years ago

Montana Gov. Joseph M. Dixon backed a plan for Canada and the United States to jointly build reservoir space on the Milk River as the joint international waterways commission met in Havre, the News reported 100 years ago this week.

Summer straw hats “fairly rained down” at the Polo Grounds to celebrate Babe Ruth’s record-breaking 55th home run on the last day of the season.

Up to 50,000 acres within two days ride of Medicine Hat may be set aside for fall rye, it was estimated.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com