Alberta's rapid test kit program gets off to rocky start
The roll-out of Alberta's rapid test kit program is off to a slow and rocky start as people across Calgary are reporting long waits and long lines at their local pharmacies.Premier Jason Kenney announced earlier this week that the province would be making rapid test kits available for people to take home at select pharmacies and health centres beginning Friday morning. More than 500,000 kits of five tests designed to be taken every 72 hours by symptomatic individuals would be handed out to Albertans on a first-come, first-serve basis. The kits are also expected to be expanded to more schools and vulnerable populations.However, a number of Calgarians lined up outside their local health centres early Friday morning to learn that test kits were either not delivered or tracking systems were not working properly.Allison
Dylan Short
Dec 17 2021
The Right Chemistry: Moderate wine consumption and your health
While there are conflicting studies about whether moderate wine consumption is good for your coronary health, it's a carcinogen.
Joe Schwarcz
Dec 17 2021
Guest column: It’s time to address root causes of health-care worker burnout
By Irving Gold Over the last several years, there has been an increasing recognition that burnout is rising exponentially among health-care workers — and there has been a positive shift in the public understanding of burnout and other mental health issues in general.Unfortunately, the policy response from governments, health-care institutions and policy-makers has been woefully inadequate.Instead of addressing the root causes of burnout and mental distress among our health-care workers, both before and as a result of COVID-19, what has been their response? A proliferation of toolkits and do-it-yourself resources developed and directed at health-care workers that focus on helping them build their own personal resiliency.On the surface, providing resources to health-care workers to maintain or improve their mental health seems like a laudable goal.
goal must go beyond helping health-care workers to survive.
Reader Letter - Windsor Star
Dec 17 2021
COVID-19 ruins family's long-awaited holiday reunion
"It will be heart-breaking to come all the way here and not be able to hug anyone or spend time with anyone. We'll just have to drive by and wave."
Blair Crawford
Dec 17 2021
COVID-19: Holiday travellers fear new Omicron restrictions will leave them 'stuck' overseas
"We didn’t cancel because of worries we’d get sick. We just can’t risk getting stuck." — Dr. Kevin McLeod
Sarah Grochowski
Dec 17 2021
Omicron forces François Legault's hand on implementing new restrictions
Holiday gatherings will be limited to 10 people; stores and restaurants can only operate at 50-per-cent capacity as of Monday.
Katelyn Thomas
Dec 17 2021
Flames' COVID-19 outbreak a warning to public: Expert
on a larger scale — locally, provincially, across Canada, globally, and, of course, in the National Hockey League — his team's current situation has become a microcosm of what could be in store with the new strain of the rapidly spreading virus.The Flames have confirmed 30 positive cases of COVID-19 since Saturday, 18 of which are affecting players. The team received news the Omicron variant was present among some results on Thursday, contributing to the province's 119 new cases — a figure that nearly doubled from the 60 reported on Wednesday.
Schwartz said in-game transmission was likely how the virus spread from the Flames to the Boston Bruins, who were in Calgary for a game on Dec. 11 and had players test positive in the following days.
It spreads twice as fast as the Delta variant.According to a Flames spokesperson Thursday, all infected members of the organization, who are all (at the very least) double vaccinated, continue to be asymptomatic and are doing well. That is good news.But how the outbreak was able to occur rapidly is an example of how efficient this virus is, and how it is able to quickly spread among the vaccinated unknowingly.That,
Schwartz is hopeful that Albertans will heed public health warnings, particularly before the Christmas season, after seeing how efficiently the virus has been able to spread within the Flames organization.But
Kristen Anderson
Dec 17 2021
