June 3rd AB COVID-19 update: Province considers an early move into stage two of relaunch

During the June 3rd Alberta COVID-19 update, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw acknowledged the work put forward by indigenous groups across the province and commended their fast and important work.

“The Metis Nation of Alberta pandemic supports have included financial assistance for those experiencing economic hardship due to COVID-19 and the development of Metis specific public health communications. The MNA has also helped to transition cultural celebrations such as the annual Metis fest to online platforms,” said Dr. Hinshaw.

The doctor highlighted many of the efforts put forward by Indigenous groups and organizations throughout the province to minimize the spread of the virus, help out high-risk individuals, and maintain cultural events through a safe means.

“The Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation on treaty six territory has started a national social media campaign called #protectourelders. The campaign encourages indigenous youth living in Canada to be partners in protecting elders from exposures to COVID-19,” explained Hinshaw.

For more information on the campaign, you can visit protectourelders.ca.

Additionally, the doctor discussed the province’s ongoing serology studies in order to learn more about the virus.

“This form of testing is used when there is the presence of antibodies in a person’s blood. A positive test means that someone contracted COVID-19 in the past even if they have now recovered. Not all antibodies protect from reinfection and antibody levels can drop over time. Because of this, there is still not enough evidence to conclusively determine if a person who previously contracted COVID-19 would subsequently be immune,” explained Hinshaw.

The doctor mentioned that Alberta’s provincial laboratories are currently in the process of validating serology tests for a better understanding of the virus. Dr. Hinshaw issued a warning against home serology tests that could potentially produce false positives or false negatives. When the data is available, the doctor said the information would be shared publicly.

Lastly, Hinshaw noted that the province is undergoing discussion to determine if Alberta can enter into stage two of relaunch earlier than the scheduled date of June 19th.

“Even if with an increase in activity we were still able collectively to have a decrease in those numbers of infections. So, with those really encouraging numbers, my team and I did take in some considerations for perhaps moving the stage two of relaunch a little earlier, but again, there’s still those discussions taking place. A final announcement will be expected early next week on a final decision about that,” explained Hinshaw.

The next availability with Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw will be on Friday, June 5th.