Canada’s western provinces are largely driving the country’s fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, and physicians are now raising the alarm — saying lax and late public health measures helped spark a rise in serious infections that’s already putting pressure on hospitals and impacting patient care.
In British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, infection rates are high above the country’s average and far beyond every province to the east, including Ontario, whose population is larger than all three westernmost provinces combined.
The rate of cases in the last seven days in B.C. was 93 per 100,000 people as of Aug. 30, federal data shows, with Alberta’s rate at 159 and Saskatchewan’s at 135 — with no province to the east hitting more than 43.
In terms of raw case growth, Alberta currently has the most new infections in the country, with more than 7,000 cases reported in one week.
The province is now in the early stages of postponing surgeries and transferring patients to help boost capacity, but it has yet to reinstate major public health measures or bring in a vaccine mandate to curb case growth as the fast-spreading delta variant surges across much of the country.
“Things are going very poorly. They’re only going to get worse,” said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an infectious diseases clinician and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
“And the time for intervention was yesterday — or realistically, weeks ago — and if nothing is done, it’s only going to continue to spiral out of control.”
400-plus Albertans in hospital with COVID-19
In Alberta, it’s growing clear that rising vaccination rates couldn’t ward off a spike in serious infections driven by the delta variant — largely among unvaccinated residents — that are now putting pressure on the province’s hospitals.
There are currently more than 400 people being treated in hospital for COVID-19, including 98 in intensive care beds. Provincial data shows that all but two of those severe ICU cases are among people who aren’t fully vaccinated.
“We’re going to see the exact same thing we saw in the winter of last year, which is hospitals are filling up, ICUs are filling up, and it’s going to lead to a number of consequences,” Schwartz said.
Nurses and supporters rally in front of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton on Aug. 11 during an information picket against cutbacks by the Alberta government. A spike in serious COVID-19 infections driven by the delta variant is putting pressure on the province’s hospitals. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)
Just two days earlier, the health authority announced it was taking steps to boost acute and ICU capacity in the province’s hospital system — which would mean postponing some non-urgent surgeries and procedures.
Dr. Aisha Mirza, who works in the emergency department at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton, recently told CBC’s As It Happens that her facility is among those already feeling the impact of rising infection rates among mostly unvaccinated Albertans.
“People are in the waiting room way too long. That’s not normal. I’m showing up to a shift and hearing that there are five nurses short,” she said.
“Now, I don’t know if that’s because they’re sick, they’re leaving the province, they’re leaving acute care in general or they’re just burned out. But we’re short — and now we don’t have beds to use for those patients that are in the waiting room.”
Kenney, Hinshaw quiet amid rising COVID-19 cases in Alberta
3 days ago
With Alberta seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases Premier Jason Kenney and Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw have been silent amid calls to reinstate public health restrictions, leading some businesses to take action on their own. 2:01
Sask. hospitals on cusp of ‘getting crushed’
Alberta officials said in mid-August that due to higher-than-expected hospitalizations, the province would be hitting pause on its polarizing decision to lift further public health measures.
But at this point, there’s no provincial mask mandate in place, and Schwartz said there are “no signs” the province plans to implement one or put in place other restrictions, such as a vaccine passport, to try to curb case growth.
“Albertans have really been left on their own and also left in the dark,” he said.
“I think those who aren’t at the hospitals, in the ICUs, seeing this in front of their eyes are going to be surprised — and they’re going to think this is something that happened really suddenly, but of course that’s not the case. This is happening in painful slow motion.”
It’s a similar situation in Saskatchewan, said Regina-based infectious diseases specialist Dr. Alexander Wong, where public health measures remain lifted while cases are spiking — with more than 110 people now in hospital for COVID-19 across the province.
“We’re literally on the cusp of our hospitals and ICUs getting crushed,” he warned.
COVID-19 and the delta variant didn’t deter more than 33,000 Saskatchewan Roughriders fans from packing Mosaic Stadium in Regina on Aug. 6 for a game against the B.C. Lions. Public health measures remain lifted while cases are spiking in the province. (Kayle Neis/The Canadian Press)
As of Monday morning, ICUs at hospitals in three Saskatchewan cities were full, which could be because of rising COVID-19 cases, said Dr. Jeffrey Betcher, critical care lead with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Local hospitals simply don’t have the space or staff to juggle both a surge of serious COVID-19 infections and everyone else who needs care, Wong said.
“It’s a perfect storm now. Everyone is burned out, tired, we can’t find staff…. It’s not like it was last March, when all the elective stuff stopped.”
B.C. bringing in mask mandate, vaccine passport
A combination of measures is required to beat back this delta-driven wave, Wong said, including boosting vaccination rates, wearing masks, physical distancing and avoiding large gatherings.
Physicians in Saskatchewan are calling for the return of public health measures and the creation of vaccine passports to access certain businesses — but so far, the province is holding off.
Meanwhile, in B.C., where there are more active cases reported than in either Ontario or Quebec, officials are taking major steps toward tighter restrictions.
“Neither of those things are going to be immediately effective,” said Dr. Srinivas Murthy, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor in pediatrics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
“I think we have some challenges with the timing of our interventions, like letting loose of the mask mandates earlier in the summer, then reinstituting them.”
A health worker administers a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in Surrey, B.C., in May. The province is bringing back a mask mandate in public places and at events, and it’s implementing a strict vaccine passport program that will prove the holder’s immunization status. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
So is it all too little, too late? That’s the fear now — that any measures taken at this point, as cases are surging across Western Canada, won’t prevent many of the serious infections expected in the weeks ahead.
Even B.C. officials themselves acknowledged during a Tuesday modelling presentation that the more likely scenario is a plateauing of cases and hospitalizations in that province, or even a slight increase, rather than a dramatic drop in reported infections.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.
Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.
The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesn’t like.
Carr has of late embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Trump has claimed he doesn’t know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.
Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed “the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.”
“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement on Sunday. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”
The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump gets to appoint a new member.
Also a prolific writer of op-eds, Carr wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last month decrying an FCC decision to revoke a federal award for Elon Musk’s satellite service, Starlink. He said the move couldn’t be explained “by any objective application of the facts, the law or sound policy.”
“In my view, it amounted to nothing more than regulatory lawfare against one of the left’s top targets: Mr. Musk,” Carr wrote.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending his embattled carbon-pricing program on the world stage, and he argues that misinformation is threatening environmental progress. He spoke at a conference held by the anti-poverty group Global Citizen, ahead of the G20 leaders summit in Brazil, and said fighting climate change is not in conflict with affordability. (Nov. 17, 2024)
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Shortly after sunset on Saturday, Rabbi Chaim Zippel clasped an overflowing cup of wine and a tin of smelling spices as he marked the end of the Sabbath with a small Jewish congregation at his home near Provo, which doubles as the county’s only synagogue.
The conclusion of the ceremony known as Havdalah set off a mad dash to change into blue and white fan gear and drive to the football stadium at nearby Brigham Young University, the Utah private school run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Zippel never expected to become a BYU fan, or even a football follower, but that changed when the school where 98.5% of students belong to the faith known widely as the Mormon church added its first Jewish quarterback to the roster.
Retzlaff has earned a hero’s embrace by rabbis and others in Provo’s tiny but tight-knit Jewish community while also becoming a favorite of the broader BYU fan base that lovingly calls him the “BYJew.”
One of just three Jewish students in a student body of 35,000, the quarterback and team co-captain who worked his way into the starting lineup has used his newfound stardom to teach others about his own faith while taking steps to learn more about Judaism for himself.
“I came here thinking I might not fit in with the culture, so this will be a place where I can just focus on school and football,” Retzlaff told The Associated Press. “But I found that, in a way, I do fit. People are curious. And when everybody around you is so faith-oriented, it makes you want to explore your faith more.”
The junior college transfer from Corona, California, formed a fast friendship with the Utah rabbi when he came to BYU in 2023. The two began studying Judaism fundamentals each week in the campus library, which would help Retzlaff speak confidently about his faith in public and in his many required religion classes.
BYU undergraduates must take classes about the Book of Mormon, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the faith’s core belief that families can be together forever if marriages are performed in temples. Retzlaff said he was surprised to find many references to the Jewish people in the Book of Mormon. Some classmates and fans have even called him “the chosen one,” referring to both his success on the field and a Latter-day Saint belief that members of the Jewish faith are God’s chosen people.
“It’s a lot of respect, honestly. They’re putting me on a mantel sometimes, and I’m like, ‘Whoa guys, I don’t know about that,'” he said with a laugh.
Retzlaff, 21, has embraced becoming an ambassador for his faith in college football and in a state where only 0.2% of residents are Jewish. The redshirt junior wears a silver Star of David necklace on campus and attends dinners on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, at the rabbi’s house during the offseason.
He led Utah County’s first public Hanukkah menorah lighting last year at Provo’s historic courthouse, brought a kosher food truck to a team weight training and wrapped tefillin with Zippel in the BYU stadium. The tefillin ritual performed by Jewish men involves strapping black boxes containing Torah verses to the arm and forehead as a way of connecting to God.
“I told Jake, I said, after doing this here, after connecting to God on your terms inside the stadium, no amount of pressure will ever get to you,” Zippel said. “I think there’s no greater example of finding your corner of the world where you’re supposed to make your impact and making that impact.”
Retzlaff is affiliated with the Reform denomination of Judaism, which melds Jewish tradition with modern sensibilities, often prioritizing altruistic values and personal choice over a strict interpretation of Jewish law. He plays football on Friday nights and Saturdays during Shabbat and says sports have become a way to connect with his faith and to inspire young Jewish athletes.
Among them is Hunter Smith, a 14-year-old high school quarterback from Chicago who flew to Utah with his dad, brother and a group of Jewish friends to watch Retzlaff play. The brothers sported Retzlaff’s No. 12 jerseys, and their father Cameron wore a “BYJew” T-shirt depicting Retzlaff emerging from a Star of David, the most recognizable symbol of the faith.
“Being the only Jewish quarterback in my area that I know of, I feel like I get to pave my own path in a way,” Smith said during Saturday’s game. “Jake’s the only Jewish quarterback in college football, so he’s someone I can relate to and is like a role model for me, someone I can really look up to.”
When Retzlaff lit Provo’s giant menorah last December, Zippel said he was touched to hear the quarterback speak about the importance of his visibility at a time when some Jewish students didn’t feel safe expressing their religious identity on their own campuses amid heightened antisemitism in the United States.
His presence has been especially impactful for BYU alumna Malka Moya, 30, who had struggled to navigate her intersecting identities on the campus as someone who is both Jewish and a Latter-day Saint.
“Jake feels very comfortable wearing his Star of David all the time,” said Moya, who lives near Provo. “I haven’t always been very comfortable with expressing my Jewish identity. But, more recently, I feel like if he can do it, I can do it.”
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