Massive expansion of rapid testing in Alberta

Emily Gruz — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 19:23:52 +0000

Alberta’s government is offering millions of free rapid testing kits to public, private and not-for-profit employers and service providers provincewide. At least two million rapid tests will be available for businesses and sectors in Alberta. This follows the successful rollout of more than 1.2 million rapid tests to long-term care facilities, schools, outbreak sites, hospitals, homeless shelters and industries across the province. Any employer or service provider in Alberta can apply for the free rapid tests. “Rapid testing kits have been used successfully in long-term care, shelters, and large worksites to keep Albertans safe. This expansion of our rapid testing program supports our overall COVID-19 strategy, to shield those most at risk, to protect lives and livelihoods, and adapt our actions to new evidence as it comes. I am pleased that we are able to give businesses and service providers another tool for screening cases early and breaking the chain of transmission.” Tyler Shandro, Minister of Health To be eligible for rapid testing kits, employers and service providers must submit a screening program plan that outlines:

protocols for administering the tests
the use of personal protective equipment
processes for reporting results and managing individuals who screen positive.

A health-care provider is required to oversee the organization’s screening program. However, the tests can be administered by a trained layperson, and self-administration is permissible under certain conditions. While anyone can apply, Alberta’s government will prioritize businesses or organizations involved with vulnerable populations, high-risk settings and workplaces, first responders, essential services and critical industry, and sectors that support the reopening of economic and social activities. Rapid COVID-19 tests can help identify pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases so they can be isolated early. Individuals with symptoms should continue to be tested by scheduling through Alberta Health Service’s online self-assessment tool. Alberta’s government is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by protecting lives and livelihoods with precise measures to bend the curve, sustain small businesses and protect Alberta’s health-care system.

Quick facts

Rapid tests will be provided for free to all successful applicants.
Alberta has received approximately 2.6 million rapid tests since October 2020, with an additional one million expected before the end of April.
Organizations are responsible for all costs related to establishing and operating their screening programs and assume all medical and legal responsibilities associated with them.
If a business or service provider needs help finding a health care provider to oversee their screening program or requires additional supports to develop a program plan, a list of third-party resources is available at alberta.ca/RapidTesting.
Rapid testing kits have already been deployed to help screen and test cases, including:

- 523,000 tests to long-term care and designated supportive living facilities
- 443,000 tests to several companies in critical industries such as oil and gas, transportation, meatpacking and utilities
- 100,000 tests to support a rapid screening pilot in schools
- 40 COVID-19 assessment centres
- 47 hospital-based labs
- Eight homeless shelters

Related information

Apply to the Rapid Testing Program

The post Massive expansion of rapid testing in Alberta appeared first on Jalya.

6 Alta. Government Members Demoted Amid International Travel Controversy

Emily Gruz — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 01:41:45 +0000

EDMONTON — Two senior Alberta government members are among seven public officials and staff who are facing consequences after leaving the country in December. Premier Jason Kenney announced Monday at noon he had accepted resignations from Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard and his own chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay. It was repercussive action he had refused to take even a few days earlier. As well, Jeremy Nixon will leave his role as parliamentary secretary for civil society and Jason Stephan from Treasury Board. Three other MLAs – Tanya Fir, Pat Rehn, and Tany Yao – have lost their legislative committee responsibilities, he added. They, along with Allard, Nixon and Stephan, will remain MLAs. “By travelling abroad over the holidays, these individuals demonstrated extremely poor judgement,” Kenney said. “I have listened to Albertans who are sending a clear message that they want real consequences for these actions.” A week earlier, he had said there’d be no consequences for those in his government who had ignored Alberta’s and Canada’s stay-at-home advice, as he had been responsible for not being “clear enough.” The deputy leader of the Alberta NDP called the resignations belated and suggested the premier had been “pushed into this position, instead of showing any kind of leadership.”

‘KICK IN THE TEETH’

Six elected officials and three staff from the United Conservative government left Canada in December. Allard’s family trip “tradition” in Hawaii was among those that sparked the most outrage, alongside Huckabay’s time in the U.K. She had been sworn in as minister five months ago. “My first reaction certainly was anger and frustration and just disbelief,” Lia Lousier, an Airdrie mom, commented. Her nine-year-old son Braeden is one of 100 people in the world to be diagnosed with a rare inherited connective tissue disease called Hajdu-Cheney syndrome and is not expected to live past his teenage years. The family had to cancel a trip to Hawaii in 2020 from Make-A-Wish Foundation Canada. Lousier called Allard’s trip a “huge kick in the teeth to average people.”

READ MORE: Mother angry over travel scandal after Make-A-Wish trip postponed for sick son

Fir visited Las Vegas, Stephan Arizona, and Rehn and FortMcMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao Mexico. Nixon and two education press secretaries were also in Hawaii. “It’s the height of arrogance and hypocrisy,” the NDP’s Sarah Hoffman said. “This is a government that believes they are beyond the rules, that the rules don’t apply to them, that the sacrifices they’re asking everyone else to make is (sic) sacrifices other people need to make, not them.” The Official Opposition says all of its 24 MLAs spent the holidays in Alberta.

‘TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE’

Transportation Minister Ric McIver will fill Allard’s spot on an interim basis and Kenney’s principal secretary Larry Kaumeyer will move become his interim chief of staff. It’s not clear whether McIver will also take over Allard’s role on the vaccine emergency management committee. The provincial government did not respond to CTV News Edmonton’s request for comment. That and the brief statement posted online by the premier, which didn’t allow for questions, looked “cowardly,” said one political scientist. “We’re hearing it’s because Tracy Allard forced his hand,” Mount Royal University’s Duane Bratt told CTV News. “When she decided to go, then Kenney said, ‘I gotta set an example with everyone else.’ But this isn’t going to dim the ire because it’s a little of too little, too late.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Bill Fortier and Carlyle Fiset