Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Sure, it just seems having people who have a high probability of being sick and vulnerable crowded together for 3 hours in a small room isn't the greatest plan for the healthcare system in general.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Cool cool, so now we can wait in a Dynalife lab packed like sardines, probably with sick people not wearing masks.

How did you ever manage to live in this world pre-2020? I take it you still wear masks everywhere you go?

Alberta is one of the last provinces to drop the mask mandate for hospitals and this is the wishes of the nurses union, which should be respected considering what they went through in the pandemic.

As GordonBlue stated you can still continue to wear masks yourself, and ask your health care provider to do so.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Alberta is one of the last provinces to drop the mask mandate for hospitals and this is the wishes of the nurses union, which should be respected considering what they went through in the pandemic.

Do you have a source on that? I’m not saying it’s not true I honestly just haven’t heard anything about that.

[Stewie991]

MOE EDIT: Inappropriate language

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Stewie991

Post edited

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Cool cool, so now we can wait in a Dynalife lab packed like sardines, probably with sick people not wearing masks.

Wife was to one last week, in and out in less than 1/2 hour and masking was required.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Do you have a source on that? I’m not saying it’s not true I honestly just haven’t heard anything about that.

It's in the link?

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said nurses in the union expected the continuous masking restrictions to be lifted, anticipating it would likely happen sometime after the provincial election.

"It's hopefully a safe time to do it," she said. "I guess we will find out over time whether or not this was the right moment."

Whether we argue that the recent statement is an acceptance that it will go away, or that it was a statement based on nurses wishes, really is moot. It's fair to state that continuous masking was never going to be permanent and it's been accepted by the union.

There will always be a number of people who would rather side on cautious, sometimes overly cautious. Sentiment seems to be the majority is well past it including seemingly within the union itself.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Firebot

It's in the link?



Whether we argue that the recent statement is an acceptance that it will go away, or that it was a statement based on nurses wishes, really is moot. It's fair to state that continuous masking was never going to be permanent and it's been accepted by the union.

There will always be a number of people who would rather side on cautious, sometimes overly cautious. Sentiment seems to be the majority is well past it including seemingly within the union itself.

Making up that it was the union’s wishes and then, when asked if you have a source, saying it “really is moot” is corny. You could just say you made it up.

[Fuzz]

"It's hopefully a safe time to do it," she said. "I guess we will find out over time whether or not this was the right moment."

Spoken with such confidence. This seems a lot more like the policy is being told to them, and they aren't sure it's a good idea.

[DownInFlames]

The one place where an abundance of caution should be exercised is in a hospital. If health professionals agree that it's time to end the mandate then I can get behind that, but "some nurses" is not the majority, so I wouldn't claim that the union fully backs this decision.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Spoken with such confidence. This seems a lot more like the policy is being told to them, and they aren't sure it's a good idea.

Haha, well of course they're hoping it's safe to do this. Would you really expect anyone to say "well, hopefully it's inopportune and a massive disaster."

The truth is, the world has moved past Covid. Things are essentially back to normal everywhere. I have worn a mask all the time for visits in the hospital and a long-term care facility and I'm not upset about that. But I do feel for the staff wearing masks for 8-10 hours a day every day because regardless of your position on this, it probably sucks.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Slava

Haha, well of course they're hoping it's safe to do this. Would you really expect anyone to say "well, hopefully it's inopportune and a massive disaster."

The truth is, the world has moved past Covid. Things are essentially back to normal everywhere. I have worn a mask all the time for visits in the hospital and a long-term care facility and I'm not upset about that. But I do feel for the staff wearing masks for 8-10 hours a day every day because regardless of your position on this, it probably sucks.

Sure, and there are probably positions and spaces where it makes sense. Not convinced Dynalife labs are amoung those given their current situation. Some policies make sense, regardless of covid.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Slava

Haha, well of course they're hoping it's safe to do this. Would you really expect anyone to say "well, hopefully it's inopportune and a massive disaster."

The truth is, the world has moved past Covid. Things are essentially back to normal everywhere. I have worn a mask all the time for visits in the hospital and a long-term care facility and I'm not upset about that. But I do feel for the staff wearing masks for 8-10 hours a day every day because regardless of your position on this, it probably sucks.

Ideally they would keep mandatory masking for the public in waiting room/emergency and for visitors. Just from a general infectious disease perspective.

Makes sense to remove much of the requirements outside of that, though.

[Fuzz]

Ya, I think it has been mostly established that brief encounters one on one aren't a huge risk for disease spread, it's sitting around crowded rooms for hours that contributes the most.


These infections aren't free, they come with a cost to they system.

[CliffFletcher]

Most people - including health care professionals - don’t like wearing a mask all day. The removal of mask mandates is being done, in part, to allow health care professionals to wear them only where it’s deemed essential.

Part of the reasoning behind the shift in policy is to remove the need for health-care workers, who have faced severe burnout throughout the pandemic, to constantly mask in every area of the hospital — while also still allowing them the freedom to continue to do so.

"We know that most of our staff, when they got infected, weren't getting infected at work, they were getting infected in the community," said Dr. Michael Gardam, an infectious disease specialist and CEO of Health P.E.I.

"And so really the time has kind of come and gone for this and we need to get to a new state where we are masking when we need to — but not routinely, everyday, everywhere."

Dr. Alon Vaisman, an infection control physician at Toronto's University Health Network (UHN) and assistant medical professor at the University of Toronto, said removing universal mask mandates in all health-care settings would likely help to ease health-care worker burnout.

"I absolutely see the reasoning there, because it seems like a very low-risk manoeuvre. I think it's important to recognize that if you take health-care workers, for example, they've been working extremely hard the last three years," he said.

"And if there's anything we can do to try to alleviate the stress, if you could remove masking where it's no longer necessary and where the risk is extremely low, I think if you could do that it's very helpful to reduce burnout."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mask-...care-1.6811240

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Ideally they would keep mandatory masking for the public in waiting room/emergency and for visitors. Just from a general infectious disease perspective.

Makes sense to remove much of the requirements outside of that, though.

Masking in hospitals/clinics is the one thing I hoped would stick. Guess we as a populous still can't be assed to inconvenience ourselves in the name of protecting other more vulnerable people. I go to a Retinal clinic monthly in Kelowna and they just lifted their requirement last month. My first visit back one of the only few people not voluntarily wearing a mask was naturally the lady with a persistent cough /eyeroll

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Alberta is one of the last provinces to drop the mask mandate for hospitals and this is the wishes of the nurses union, which should be respected considering what they went through in the pandemic.

As GordonBlue stated you can still continue to wear masks yourself, and ask your health care provider to do so.

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Do you have a source on that? I’m not saying it’s not true I honestly just haven’t heard anything about that.

Originally Posted by Firebot

It's in the link?

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said nurses in the union expected the continuous masking restrictions to be lifted, anticipating it would likely happen sometime after the provincial election.

"It's hopefully a safe time to do it," she said. "I guess we will find out over time whether or not this was the right moment."

I'm pretty "meh" about it and okay with mask mandates ending at this stage but come on, that quote is not the nurse's union saying that this was the wishes of the union.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Making up that it was the union’s wishes and then, when asked if you have a source, saying it “really is moot” is corny. You could just say you made it up.

Is the word corny your new go to when coming in to threads with zero commentary value whatsoever to add your snide comments solely to attack and discredit posters you don't agree with? Laying in wait to see what posters you can come in to dart in your self-righteous quips.

What part of "hopefully it's a safe time to do so" from the president is foreign to you? Seems pretty clear the union is doing quite the opposite of fighting this and at the bare minimum accepting it. They are a health worker union, of course they will side officially on the side of caution.

You are kidding yourself if you think that nurses don't voice their concerns to their union over mandatory continuous masking, or that nurses uniformly think we should keep continuous masking. That belief is rather corny.

Oh and just for you, as you clearly seem to not have read the article and just did your usual drivel drive by, there was more to the link that I did not quote.

According to Smith, some health-care workers have begun to experience "mask fatigue" after three years of pandemic restrictions.

"For some, I think that there is a level of fatigue and they welcome [the change], particularly if their point of care assessment would say they are not at risk and their patients are not at risk," she said.

I know I know, Smith can be confusing for you, being we have a Danielle Smith as premier, but this quote within the CBC appears to be attributed to Heather Smith, president of the UNA (the United Nurses of Alberta) being that Danielle Smith is not part of the article. Heather Smith stating that some nurses are experience mask fatigue? She must have made it up too.

Egg in your face? Will the usual partisan 'non-partisan' posters who thanked your post thank this post? Of course not. The echo chamber must live on.

Ridiculous drivel.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Makes sense to remove much of the requirements outside of that, though.

Masks are literally preventative healthcare. I agree, they should be mandatory in all hospital and healthcare settings.

Governments want to save money? This is a great place to do it. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the estimated average cost of a hospital stay for COVID-19 is more than $23,000. The estimated total cost of COVID-19 hospital stays in Canada (excluding Quebec) was almost $1 billion in 2020–2021, tripling between November 2020 and March 2021.

If masks can prevent catching COVID and possibly ending up in hospital, we are keeping costs down in our healthcare system. And do keep in mind that our hospital system services those who don't take vaccines, who are putting themselves at risk for worse health outcomes and eventually ending up in the healthcare system.

Hell, masks can also help protect against other infectious diseases that can be found in hospitals too, like the cold, flu, measles, chickenpox, mumps, Aspergillosis, TB, and diphtheria.

If it's scientifically proven to be safe to remove masks in non-essential areas of hospitals, so be it. But masks should be worn in high traffic and vulnerable areas at all times. Preventing the spread of disease by simply wearing masks in places where people are vulnerable and some of our most important members of society congregate everyday seems like a no-brainer as a permanent rule.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Torture

I'm pretty "meh" about it and okay with mask mandates ending at this stage but come on, that quote is not the nurse's union saying that this was the wishes of the union.

See above

Read the fricking articles. Does everything need to be spoon-fed in this echo chamber?