Ottawa sending help to COVID-ravaged Alberta

OTTAWA – The federal government has approved Alberta’s request for assistance to deal with the COVID-19 crisis facing the province.

In a statement, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed the Trudeau government has officially confirmed it will make federal resources available to Alberta to address the worsening fourth wave.

Our Liberal government will always be there to support Canadians in their time of need.

Please see my statement on the difficult situation in Alberta: pic.twitter.com/40XvKczt6F

— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) September 23, 2021

Blair says the help available to the province will include military medical resources and aeromedical evacuation capability to transfer patients out of province, the deployment of the Red Cross, and other federal health resources.

“We acknowledge the difficulties Alberta continues to face during this fourth wave in the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As provinces and territories across the country have requested assistance throughout this public health emergency, so too has the federal government had an open offer to help Alberta,” Blair wrote in his letter back to the UCP.

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• Alberta asks Ottawa for help fighting fourth COVID-19 wave

• Alberta COVID party sends several people to hospital with virus

• Alberta has not asked for military assistance, CAF says

Despite growing case counts and hospitals at risk of being overrun, the Alberta government only made the official request for federal help on Tuesday, the day after the election.

Hospitalizations continue to climb to record highs, with 1,040 people in hospital, 230 in the ICU as of Wednesday.

Of those in the ICU, 203 are unvaccinated, or about 88 per cent.

The province identified 1,336 new cases Wednesday–more than 73 per cent of the new infections unvaccinated Albertans.