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COVID-19 Update: 875 new cases, 23 deaths | Vaccine shortage leads to cancelled appointments | Hairstylists desperate to return to work

Follow this page for the latest updates and breaking news on coronavirus throughout the day.

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With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.


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My COVID Story: How have you been impacted by coronavirus?

Postmedia is looking to speak with people who may have been impacted by the growing second wave of COVID-19 here in Alberta. Do you have a child or teen who caught COVID-19? Are you a front-line worker? Have you been immunized? Send us an email at reply@calgaryherald.com to tell us your experience, or send us a message via this form.

Read our ongoing coverage of personal stories arising from the pandemic.


‘Unmitigated disaster:’ Hairstylists desperate to get back to work amid COVID-19 pandemic

FILE PHOTO: Moe Charanek cuts 12 year-old Cory Flaig’s hair at the Six Barbers barbershop in Calgary on Monday, May 25, 2020.
FILE PHOTO: Moe Charanek cuts 12 year-old Cory Flaig’s hair at the Six Barbers barbershop in Calgary on Monday, May 25, 2020. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia

Hairstylists in Alberta are calling on the government for support as they suffer the brunt of COVID-19 restrictions that have resulted in an “unmitigated disaster for the beauty industry.”

Paul Hemsing, owner of Salon Purity in Medicine Hat, said the personal impacts of forced hair salon and barbershop closures are immeasurable, causing strain to people’s relationships, mental health and families.

“People are in distress. They are behind on their utility bills. They are behind on their mortgage payments,” said Hemsing.

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“My plea to the government is, if you are going to have an industry with tens of thousands of people in Alberta close their stores and threaten us with $5,000 fines if we do perform services, you need to immediately set up an emergency fund.”

Hemsing said the Canada Emergency Response Benefit isn’t enough for many people who have now been out of work in hair salons and barbershops for months and have limited options to make money otherwise.

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Hinshaw expects vaccine shortages to be ‘common’ in coming weeks

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health. Photo by Chris Schwarz /Government of Alberta

Alberta’s top doctor said she anticipates vaccine shortages to be a persistent problem in the province in the coming weeks after some regions have already reduced appointments to reflect dwindling supply.

As of Tuesday, 58,144 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Alberta, representing about 1,315 doses for every 100,000 people.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province received one expected shipment of vaccine this week and anticipates another to arrive in the coming days.

But she said Alberta Health Services has already begun delaying appointments in certain zones due to lack of available doses to meet the province’s capacity. She said appointment slots have also been removed so they can’t be booked.

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Vaccine timeline grows more unclear as Kenney cites ‘May, June’ target for general population

Premier Jason Kenney on Jan. 7, 2021.
Premier Jason Kenney on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta

The average Albertan could start receiving their COVID-19 vaccine as early as late spring, Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday, but there’s little clarity on when the general population will actually be able to get the jab.

Kenney’s assertion is at odds with information previously released by both Alberta Health Services and the premier’s own office, and has deepened confusion on Alberta’s vaccination timelines.

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Alberta is running out of COVID-19 vaccines, with some regions cancelling appointments

Judy McKnight receives the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Julie Denouden at the Canmore General Hospital on Jan. 6. McKnight was the hospital’s first long-term care resident to receive the vaccine.
Judy McKnight receives the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Julie Denouden at the Canmore General Hospital on Jan. 6. McKnight was the hospital’s first long-term care resident to receive the vaccine. Photo by Leah Hennel/ Alberta Health Services

Alberta has started running out of COVID-19 vaccines, with supply completely used up in parts of the province and other regions having to reduce appointments to ration remaining doses for vulnerable populations.

In Calgary, a shortage of available vaccines meant that 1,500 health-care workers had their appointments cancelled this week so that those in long-term care centres and supportive living could receive them instead. And, because of the dwindling supply of Moderna vaccines, 2,000 injections were delayed across the province, said the province’s health authority.

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“We need additional product,” said Alberta Health Services spokesman Kerry Williamson in an email.

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B.C. health minister says review underway after doctors jump vaccine queue

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix arrives for a news conference in Vancouver on March 6, 2020.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix arrives for a news conference in Vancouver on March 6, 2020. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia’s health minister says it’s “very disappointing” that some doctors in Vancouver jumped the queue to get a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Adrian Dix says the issue was detected through a systems review and that everyone is expected to follow the rules on the priority list for immunization in order to first protect the most vulnerable people.

He says a number of cases have been identified by Vancouver Coastal Health and “appropriate action” will be taken as part of a review that is underway.

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Yukon could be first place in Canada to achieve herd immunity, says top doctor

Yukon flag
Yukon flag

Yukon’s chief medical officer of health says he can see the territory’s population achieving herd immunity within three months if the vaccine supplies come in as scheduled.

Dr. Brendan Hanley says any adult who would like to get a vaccine will have a chance to get one within a matter of weeks.

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He says the territory is organizing a mass clinic in Whitehorse to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

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Air Canada to cut 1,700 employees as COVID-19 restrictions, lockdowns bite

Air Canada said on Wednesday it will cut its first-quarter capacity by an additional 25 per cent, resulting in a reduction of about 1,700 employees.
Air Canada said on Wednesday it will cut its first-quarter capacity by an additional 25 per cent, resulting in a reduction of about 1,700 employees. Photo by Getty Images

Air Canada said on Wednesday it will cut first-quarter capacity by an additional 25 per cent, resulting in a workforce reduction of about 1,700 employees, as travel restrictions, lockdowns and new testing requirements to combat the spread of COVID-19 hit bookings.

Carriers have been wrestling with a slump in demand and passenger confusion, following the Jan. 7 introduction of new Canadian rules requiring travellers to test negative for the novel coronavirus before boarding a plane bound for the country.

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Ontario warns highly contagious COVID-19 variant might be circulating

A patient is transported from Verdun hospital Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in Montreal.
A patient is transported from Verdun hospital Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in Montreal. Photo by Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press

In what soon could become an inevitable yet one more grim development, Ontario officials are investigating whether a highly contagious, mutated strain of the COVID-19 virus could already be circulating in Canada.

Ontario announced eight new cases of the so-called U.K. variant Tuesday, bringing Canada’s confirmed total to at least 22. Cases have also been found in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec.

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Five of the eight new Ontario cases have been linked to recent travel to the U.K. However, as of Tuesday, there was no known travel link in the three others.

“If that’s confirmed, we have evidence of community transmission and that is a very serious concern that the vaccine will not be able to address quickly enough,” said Dr. Barbara Jaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health.

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Chinese COVID-19 vaccine downgraded from 78 to 50 per cent efficacy

A worker performs a quality check in the packaging facility of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech in Beijing.
A worker performs a quality check in the packaging facility of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech in Beijing. Photo by Thomas Peter /Reuters

China’s Sinovac Biotech defended the safety and efficacy of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, after researchers in Brazil released late-stage clinical data showing efficacy that was much lower than initially announced.

The vaccine was just 50.4 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infections in the Brazilian trial, including data on “very mild” cases, researchers said on Tuesday.

Last week, they said the vaccine, called CoronaVac, showed 78 per cent efficacy against “mild-to-severe” cases.

The news prompted Malaysia and Singapore, which have purchase agreements with Sinovac, to say on Wednesday that they would seek more data from the Chinese firm on efficacy rates before they approved and bought supplies.

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Downtown lights festival postponed until 2022

Calgarians take in the Glow Downtown Winter Light Festival on Feb. 16, 2019.
Calgarians take in the Glow Downtown Winter Light Festival on Feb. 16, 2019. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia

A popular winter lights festival that had been scheduled to go ahead in February is now being postponed until 2022, due to the pandemic.

The glow Downtown Winter Lights Festival was set to bring more than a dozen light installations to the downtown. The three previous festivals put on by the Calgary Downtown Association were designed to get Calgarians out exploring their city after dark.

“Making the decision to postpone to 2022 was difficult on so many levels,” says Jennifer Rempel, Calgary Downtown Association, General Manager. “We had really hoped we could start the New Year on a much brighter note, but as time progressed it became clear that postponing is what needed to happen.”


Free virtual concert series aims to lift spirits

Cellist Morag Northey is one of the artists who performed for Winter Solace, an online concert series.
Cellist Morag Northey is one of the artists who performed for Winter Solace, an online concert series. Photo by Stuart Gradon Stuart Gradon /Calgary Herald

A free virtual concert series developed for long-term care patients and their families is now available for all Albertans.

Winter Solace was launchd in December by the Instrumental Society of Calgary in collaboration with Alberta Health Services and Asylum for Art, with support from the Calgary Foundation.

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The live virtual concerts featuring violinists, percussionists, pianists and cellists have provided the uplifting power of music to patients in hospital and long-term care, as well as their families and workers at the facilities.

“While we’ve all experienced some degree of isolation due to pandemic restrictions, for people staying in care facilities, this isolation can be much greater. The series is all about bringing some solace to their world via music,” said Brad Mahon, an award-winning classical guitarist and dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education and Extension at Mount Royal University.

“The isolation many have experienced due to COVID-19 restrictions has heightened the urgency to address mental health. We have to help each other through this.”

Past performances of the concerts and more information can be found at wintersolace.ca.


Canadians stranded in Barbados urge feds to scrap COVID test amid testing backlogs

A traveller walks by the WestJet check-in aisles at Calgary International Airport on Jan. 8, 2021.
A traveller walks by the WestJet check-in aisles at Calgary International Airport on Jan. 8, 2021. Photo by Azin Ghaffari /Postmedia

An Ottawa man stranded in Barbados wants Transport Canada to allow for travellers to test for COVID-19 upon landing rather than presenting a negative test at boarding time.

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Dan, who requested his last name not be used, is urging the agency to provide travellers in Barbados the same exemption it gave Jamaica — letting travellers take the test on arrival at Pearson International Airport. Both Caribbean countries are experiencing backlogs in COVID-19 testing required for visitors to board a flight home.

As of Jan. 7, the Canadian government requires people age five and up travelling to Canada — regardless of citizenship — to present a negative COVID-19 test result prior to boarding. The results have to be dated within 72 hours of the flight.

The government made an exception for 24 countries and territories and extended the test result window to within 96 hours of departure to account for the shortage of tests resulting in delayed results.

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Mental health continues to suffer during pandemic: Survey

The study looked at Canadians who have remained employed during the pandemic.
The study looked at Canadians who have remained employed during the pandemic. Photo by Getty Images

COVID-19 continues to grind down the mental health of Canadians.

Numbers released Wednesday by HR services company Morneau Shepellshow a consistently negative mental health score among Canadians — for what is now the ninth month in a row. The wellbeing of all Canadians is being adversely affected by declining psychological health and work productivity.

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Canadians’ mental health is at its lowest point since April 2020.

The survey for the monthly Mental Health Index polls 3,000 Canadians across the country, all of whom were employed within the last six months.

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First Nations say communication, proactivity key in successful management of COVID-19

Virginia Medicine Traveller, 94, Siksika Elders Lodge’s oldest resident, receives Siksika’s first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Siksika Nation Community Health RN Jacey Solway on Jan. 1, 2021.
Virginia Medicine Traveller, 94, Siksika Elders Lodge’s oldest resident, receives Siksika’s first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Siksika Nation Community Health RN Jacey Solway on Jan. 1, 2021. Photo by Supplied image/ Siksika Health

Three First Nations communities in southern Alberta that managed to stave off more severe outcomes of COVID-19 for months are now seeing a spike in positive cases that has necessitated stricter measures and forced some into lockdown.

Having built a solid foundation ahead of the virus’s second wave, the nations say they’re prepared for what’s to come while looking ahead to when their members are vaccinated.

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First Nations have shown exemplary handling of pandemic despite unique challenges: infectious disease expert

Siksika Elders Lodge resident, Marie Calf Robe, receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot from Siksika Health CDC Team Lead Chris Sterling on Jan. 1, 2021.
Siksika Elders Lodge resident, Marie Calf Robe, receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot from Siksika Health CDC Team Lead Chris Sterling on Jan. 1, 2021. Photo by Supplied image/ Siksika Health

First Nations communities across the province did a “great job” handling the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, but will need to remain vigilant to persevere through the current second wave, says a University of Calgary infectious disease professor.

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Dr. John Conly, of the Cumming School of Medicine’s infectious diseases and epidemiology department, said while genetic and environmental factors facing First Nations communities create unique circumstances when dealing with a health crisis, there is historic precedent.

“Many of the issues that pertain to managing the pandemic are not new and they roll back to a number of issues related to management of any infectious diseases in the First Nations setting,” he said in an interview last month. “There are genetic predispositions that go back for many years.”

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Alberta promises new campaign to encourage vaccinations

A health-care worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine syringe at The Michener Institute in Toronto on Dec. 14, 2020.
A health-care worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine syringe at The Michener Institute in Toronto on Dec. 14, 2020. Photo by CARLOS OSORIO /AFP via Getty Images

The Alberta government is planning an advertising campaign later this year to encourage Albertans to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The news comes as polls have suggested many Albertans continue to be reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine right away, though there are some signs the level of interest is improving.

Read more.


Tuesday

Braid: Vaccine shortage is already hampering inoculation drive

Sheila Veeder, 63, a resident of the Riverview Care Centre in Medicine Hat, AB is the first long-term care resident in Alberta to receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020.
Sheila Veeder, 63, a resident of the Riverview Care Centre in Medicine Hat, AB is the first long-term care resident in Alberta to receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. Photo by ALBERTA HEALTH SERVICES

Columnist Don Braid writes:

Our leaders overhyped COVID-19 vaccines in December (coming soon, salvation!), and now have to shrink their predictions to match the real world.

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The trumpeting was perhaps understandable. Albertans desperately needed good news. The creation of COVID-19 vaccines, with first doses arriving even sooner than expected, qualified as ecstatic news.

But now there are shortages. Premier Jason Kenney complains that Alberta’s shipments from the federal government fall far short of the capacity to vaccinate. Several other provinces echo his plea.

Read more.


Tuesday

Alberta sets new daily high of COVID-19 deaths as 38 more fatalities recorded

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia

Alberta set another record high for deaths related to COVID-19 reported in a single day, as 38 more people have lost their lives after battling the virus.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that grim mark on Tuesday, bringing Alberta’s fatality toll due to COVID-19 to 1,345 deaths recorded since March 2020. The previous daily high of 31 deaths was recorded just three days earlier.

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