Watch this page throughout the day for updates on COVID-19 in Edmonton
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COVID-19 news happens rapidly, we have created this file to keep you up-to-date on all the latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Edmonton.
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What’s happening now
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Share your COVID-19 stories
As Alberta grapples with a fourth wave of COVID-19 at the start of another school year, we’re looking to hear your stories on this evolving situation.
- Have you or a loved one had a surgery rescheduled or cancelled in recent weeks?
- Are you someone who has decided to get vaccinated after previously being skeptical of the vaccines?
- Have you changed your mind about sending your children back to school in person?
- Have you enrolled your children in a private school due to COVID-19?
- Are you a frontline health-care worker seeing new strains on the health system?
Send us your stories via email at [email protected]
5:42 p.m.
Government reports 4,037 new cases, 21 more deaths over last three days
- Alberta is reporting 21 more deaths over the past three days. The province’s death toll is now at 2,752.
- There are 4,037 new cases. On Friday, Alberta Health reported 1,629 new cases. On Saturday, there were 1,282 new cases. On Sunday, there were 1,126 new cases.
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2:38 p.m.
Edmonton Public Schools implementing COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees
Anna Junker
Edmonton Public Schools is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Supt. Darrel Robertson said Monday the division is implementing the vaccine mandate in order to provide a safe learning and working environment, especially because children under 12 cannot yet be immunized.
“Our custodial staff, maintenance, support, teachers, exempt staff, our volunteers that come into the school, essentially all adults that are coming in school to spend time and work with kids, or around kids, will be captured in this mandatory vaccination regulation,” Robertson said.
All employees will have to declare their vaccination status by mid-October. Those who are not fully vaccinated and have not received an exemption from the division will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test every 72 hours.
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From late October to Dec. 17, the division will coordinate and pay for testing through a third-party provider. Following Dec. 17, any employee who remains unvaccinated will have to cover the cost of the test at their own expense.
The mandate will be in place for all 215 schools along with any other buildings that the division operates.
More to come.
11:21 a.m.
Unvaccinated, Edmonton Oilers Forward, Josh Archibald is out indefinitely due to inflamed heart muscle following Contracting COVID-19 this summer
Jim Matheson
After doctors in Edmonton discovered Josh Archibald had contracted Covid this summer, they did more tests and have found damage to his heart muscle.
The unvaccinated Edmonton Oilers forward was in his 14-day quarantine after travelling from the U.S., when he started to not feel well. He skated briefly but not with the any of the groups after they hit the ice Sept. 23 for practices/scrimmages.
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Archibald, 28, went for a battery of medical tests and they discovered he had Covid antibodies and myocarditis. Myocarditis is the same ailment that Oilers third goalie from last season Alex Stalock was felled with last fall in Minnesota. He, too, had come down with Covid, which affected his heart.
Myocarditis, which can lead to cardiac arrest and possible death with the heart rate increasing through exertion, has been found to be an after-effect of Covid in athletes pushing their training before camps.
Read more.
7:52 a.m.
Study suggests Pfizer/BioNTech antibodies disappear in many by seven months
National Post
Six months after receiving the second dose of the two-shot vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, many recipients no longer have vaccine-induced antibodies that can immediately neutralize worrisome variants of the coronavirus, a new study suggests.
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Researchers analyzed blood samples from 46 healthy, mostly young or middle-aged adults after receipt of the two doses and again six months after the second dose.
“Our study shows vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine induces high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the original vaccine strain, but these levels drop by nearly 10-fold by seven months” after the initial dose, Bali Pulendran of Stanford University and Mehul Suthar of Emory University said by email.
In roughly half of all subjects, neutralizing antibodies that can block infection against coronavirus variants such as Delta, Beta, and Mu were undetectable at six months after the second dose, their team reported on Thursday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
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Sunday
Military nurses expected to help fight Alberta’s COVID-19 by Monday: federal minister
Lisa Johnson
Up to eight critical care nurses from the Canadian Armed Forces are expected to be in Alberta hospitals by Monday to help deal with the fourth wave of COVID-19.
“We are always ready to help Canadians across the country during difficult times, and this pandemic has been no different. The Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Red Cross, and health professionals have stepped up time and again over the past 19 months to answer the call to protect people, and I want to thank all those on the front lines who continue to keep Canadians safe,” Blair said in the release.
The Canadian Red Cross is planning to provide up to 20 medical professionals, some with ICU experience, to help or relieve staff working in hospitals in the province, and is finalizing its plan with Alberta Health Services to send its personnel where they are needed.
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Read more
Saturday
Why would some Albertans take Johnson & Johnson, but not another COVID-19 vaccine?
That’s what Premier Jason Kenney is betting on now, as his government requests an inventory of the single-shot vaccines from the federal government in a bid to bolster vaccine uptake in rural areas of the province.
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Friday
MLAs would have to vote to require vaccinations inside the legislature’s chamber: Speaker
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https://edmontonjournal.com/newsletters/
Letter of the day
Make sure to include the entire UCP caucus when it comes to blame for the fourth wave burning through Alberta. Rather than working together on solutions, several UCP MLAs including the speaker and deputy speaker attend the Free Alberta Strategy meeting. Their whole existence is to blame the federal government for all our ills, as 600-plus million dollars of federal aid targeted for Alberta goes unspent.
They are more concerned about cancelling the RCMP and getting their hands on my CPP and EI to “invest” in their questionable schemes than manage the pandemic making us a laughingstock.They are more concerned about cancelling the RCMP and getting their hands on my CPP and EI to “invest” in their questionable schemes than manage the pandemic making us a laughingstock.
Perry Assaly, Edmonton
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Letters Welcome
We invite you to write letters to the editor. A maximum of 150 words is preferred. Letters must carry a first and last name, or two initials and a last name, and include an address and daytime telephone number. All letters are subject to editing. We don’t publish letters addressed to others or sent to other publications. Email: [email protected]
