Two Alberta doctors pen letter to health minister demanding province-wide 'fire break' lockdown

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Two prominent Alberta doctors have penned a letter to the new health minister demanding a province-wide “fire break” lockdown, mandatory vaccinations for employees, as well as a number of other measures to dampen the spread of COVID-19.

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Dr. Noel Gibney, a critical care specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, and Dr. James Talbot, the province’s former chief medical officer, penned the letter to Health Minister Jason Copping to address the “crushing COVID-19 burden being borne by Alberta and Alberta Health Services.”

“Albertan’s hospital system, especially ICUs are under more killing stress than at any time in the provinces history,” the letter states.

“Alberta’s hospital system, especially ICUs are under more killing stress than at any time in the provinces history. All Albertans have and do depend on our acute care hospitals. We are within days of being forced to implement a triage protocol which will force health care workers to make life and death decisions on who will get scarce resources, like ventilators.”

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The letter calls for the implementation of 7 measures, including transferring ICU patients out of province now, making vaccine passports mandatory at all non-essential services, making vaccination mandatory for all government staff and staff at related arms-length organizations, as well as employees of essential and non-essential businesses.

It also calls for restoring contact tracing, and mandating masking indoors in schools, including classrooms.

As for the so-called fire break, the doctors are asking for the four-week closure of nightclubs, casinos, bars and indoor dining at restaurants, the closure of gyms and indoor sports, and strictly limiting capacity at stores, malls and places of worship.

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The doctors state that these are necessary measures because we’re at a point where roughly 15 people per day are dying from COVID-19, and that the 20 per cent of people who haven’t even had one shot of vaccine are driving this crisis.

“This 80% are already being deprived of needed elective surgeries and soon will be denied entry into a hospital or ICU bed by the 20% who refuse to be immunized and are clogging up the acute care system,” reads the letter.

“This means that those lobbying in your party to eliminate vaccine passports and are against insisting that employees be immunized are not supported by the actions of 80% of Albertans.”

The Honourable Jason Copping by edmontonjournal on Scribd