Health Minister Tyler Shandro believes that the job done by Albertans in the face of COVID-19 has been incredible thus far, but he warns against complacency as a second wave of the virus is still very much in the realm of possibility. As of June 30th, there were 547 reported active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 36 of those peppered around the Alberta Health Services North zone, and one in the Grande Prairie region.
Shandro says early modelling numbers, under what they called a probable scenario, predicted as many as 800,000 infections and between 400 to 3,100 deaths by the end of summer. However, that is a far cry from what has taken place so far. Shandro says the majority of the thanks must go to the general population for taking the threat so seriously.
“[With] the assumptions we had to make, the fact that our system responded so well and Albertans responded so well,” he says. “Some of it can’t actually be AHS and our ministry, some of it is just really because Albertans have done an amazing job, and an amazing job responding to the pandemic.”
However, he knows that while it has been a positive story thus far, it can change very quickly. With numbers in some U.S. states continuing to skyrocket due to several factors, including a lack of social distancing and lack of willing mask wearers, Shandro says all the good work done can so easily be erased.
“We are going to have to wait and see how Albertans continue to follow the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, so it’s to a great extend in their hands. I think we are going to see ups and downs, but whether there is a wave as significant as the first wave, it’s going to be in the hands of Albertans.”