Differing from other municipalities in Alberta, City of Airdrie and Airdrie RCMP officials assure local staffing and service levels have not been impacted by the province's ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases.
“We are not experiencing any issues maintaining services to the City currently, however, we continue to closely monitor our staff for any impacts from the latest Omicron wave,” read a Jan. 7 statement from the City of Airdrie.
“The City continues to promote our safety procedures to keep our staff safe and healthy. There is the potential for our current situation to change quickly, and we have contemplated potential scenarios to ensure the provision of essential services remain intact.”
The City of Airdrie has a roster of 694 active employees, including Airdrie Fire Department personnel, Airdrie Transit operators, recreational facility staff, and administrative staff, such as employees in the water, sewer, roads and parks departments.
The local RCMP detachment issued a similar statement in conjunction with the City, indicating that as of Jan. 7, local policing operations have not been affected by the new variant.
The detachment's statement added the Alberta RCMP has contingency plans in place to ensure there are no disruptions to operations.
“Alberta RCMP can confirm that our policing operations have not been affected by the new variant and we have not had to re-deploy policing resources to maintain those operations,” the statement read.
“We continue to follow directives and protocols in place with public health officials in respect to any possible exposure to COVID-19, such as testing, self-isolation, or self-monitoring requirements, etc.”
The statements come as Airdrie experiences its highest-ever number of COVID-19 infections. As of Jan. 10, the city was reporting 744 active cases, according to statistics from the Alberta government.
Provincially, cases continue to soar amid the fifth wave, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. As of Jan. 10, Alberta was reporting 57,332 confirmed COVID-19 infections.
However, chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in her Jan. 10 press conference that the number of actual cases could be up to 10 times higher than that, as the confirmed cases only refer to lab-completed PCR tests, and not the free rapid antigen tests that are currently available.
Amid the surge, some municipalities, including the City of Calgary, have reported impacts to staffing levels among multiple municipal sectors, as more and more employees call in sick. Impacted services include the Calgary Police Service, Calgary Transit, and recreational facilities.
The City of Edmonton has also reported workforce impacts brought on by the Omicron wave – a Global News story on Jan. 5 reported 200 City of Edmonton employees had tested positive for COVID-19 as of that date.
