CALGARY — While the fourth wave of COVID-19 continues to spread, more groups are calling on the government to step up and act.
Premier Jason Kenney and government health officials continue to be absent and many continue to demand answers.
Sandra Azocar, the Executive Director with Friends of Medicare says it is unacceptable for the premier and senior health officials to be quiet while cases spike.
“The leadership and governance, there is a social contract that those who have been elected will work on our behalf. But regrettably, all we have seen from this government is the continued destruction of that contract and putting us all at risk as a result,” Azocar said.
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She adds that it is concerning to hear from health care workers how stretched thin they are and the number of staff shortages existing in the province.
“We have a serious and potentially life-risking staff shortages and then cancellation of elective surgeries, we hear that ambulances are constantly on code red — which means that there is no ambulance available — we are seeing a health-care system that is completely overstretched.
“We hear from the government that there is no problem, yet we hear from healthcare workers that there is, that their ICU’s are full, that our critical care units are having their beds closed because of this shortage of staff and yet there is a shameful negligence by not having anybody who’s willing to do their job at this point from the government,” she said.
In addition, she says the vaccination rates in the province have slowed down and that won’t help in bringing cases down.
With students returning to class this week, she adds they want the government to reinstate and expand contact tracing and a provincial mask mandate.
Premier Kenney hasn’t addressed the public since early August.
