Despite the grim toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on all of us, there remain outliers who refuse vaccinations and flout public health rules. If you are one of them, I kindly ask that you read my message to the end.
The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Albertans to a far greater degree than anywhere else in Canada. Our healthcare system is critically close to capacity. As I write this, roughly 87.5% of COVID-19 patients in our hospital beds and intensive care units are unvaccinated.
Pause for just a moment and ponder that statistic.
Despite the pandemic, heart attacks and highway rollovers still happen. Life-saving surgeries are still scheduled. Kids still break their arms. But when our hospital beds are full of patients dealing with COVID-19, where do we turn? What happens to the worker who suffers an industrial accident? The frail grandfather who badly needs his back operation? Or the young mother who just got T-boned at a traffic light?
If we keep going down this path, more people will get sick; more people will needlessly die; our healthcare system will be overwhelmed to the point of failure; and sweeping provincial restrictions will place further constraints on our lives and livelihoods. We can’t let that happen.
As a public servant, as a parent, and as a fellow community member, I urge you to get vaccinated. If a friend or family member is unvaccinated, please do your utmost to persuade them. Our only way through this is together.
Barb
Barbara Miller, CPA, CGA, CLGM
Chief Administrative Officer
Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No.124