AHS has plans to deal with city COVID numbers
By Gillian Slade on March 24, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDGSlade@abnewsgroup.com As the number of active COVID cases in Lethbridge continues to increase Alberta Health Services (AHS) is not unrolling any news plans to address this.March 2 there were 218 active cases. By March 9 there were 306 active cases, by March 15 there were 456 and on March 21, 524 active cases.
“I absolutely confirm that our numbers are going up and going up pretty quickly,” said Dr. Vivien Suttorp, lead medical officer of health for the AHS South zone.
“More worrisome is that we know that there are people but they are not getting tested. So the number that we are seeing may not be reflective of the number of cases and the number of ill individuals.”
On Friday, Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman told the media he was concerned that the actual active case numbers are higher.
Testing on a large scale including those without symptoms could identify the true numbers.
Suttorp would not say on Tuesday whether this is even being discussed.
“I can’t comment on that piece,” said Suttorp.
Alberta Health announced in a press release on Tuesday that businesses and organizations will now be able to submit applications for free rapid test kits. Applications must include how the tests will be administered and a process for reporting results and managing individuals who test positive. A health-care provider is required to oversee the organization’s screening program and the costs of this will be the responsibility of the organization/business.(see related story for details.)
In April 2020 mass COVID testing was done in Brooks after that city’s numbers spiked. Mayor Barry Morishita lobbied for mass testing by AHS for people without symptoms and contributed $107,557 towards the costs. Morishita later thanked Premier Jason Kenney for his assistance in making it happen. He credited this as an initiative that contributed to bringing the numbers down.
About 10 months later Morishita says he would do it again if his city was facing exponential growth of COVID numbers.
Spearman says the population size between the two cities makes a similar approach more difficult. Brooks has a population of about 10,000 and Lethbridge about 100,000.
There are currently two pilot programs of asymptomatic testing at schools in Calgary.
Suttorp says the basic public health measures/restrictions that have been implemented to date do work and people should stay home if sick and get tested. People seeking medical care have talked about having had symptoms for a couple of weeks but did not get a test, she said.
One possible reason for avoiding a COVID test is getting to a testing site, she explained. People calling Health Link 811 to arrange for testing can discuss this with the operator.
“We have multiple ways to offer individuals testing,” said Suttorp. “We try to make sure that access is not a challenge.”
There is also an increase in the number of COVID cases linked to the COVID U.K. variant, said Suttorp. This variant is very infectious and is spreading through communities quicker then the usual strain. 3
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