COVID-19 live updates: Alberta reports 21 more deaths, 4,03 new cases over last three days; EPSB implementing vaccine mandate

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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.

5:42 p.m.

Government reports 4,037 new cases, 21 more deaths over last three days

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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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Saturday

Why would some Albertans take Johnson & Johnson, but not another COVID-19 vaccine?

Jason Herring, Calgary

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Friday

MLAs would have to vote to require vaccinations inside the legislature’s chamber: Speaker

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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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