Reposted by Vanessa
Forget Columbus Day (US) or Thanksgiving Day (Canada). It should be Indigenous Peoples' Day across Turtle Island. Celebrate Indigenous strength, resilience, and culture today instead of romanticizing settler history.
Vanessa
@yellownessvjt04.bsky.social
1.2K followers 2.3K following 312 posts
B.C. 🇨🇦 Working hard to be part of solutions rather than problems. Vet Med. 🐾 🇺🇦😷🌎 💪🏻 “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell, 1984
![None of the evidence we reviewed showed any communication
or coordination between AHS EPH officials and Alberta OHS at
this time. In response to our freedom of information requests for
email correspondence between the manager for OHS in Calgary
and several AHS officials who were directly involved in the Cargill
response, we were informed by the Government of Alberta’s
access to information that “a thorough search […] did not yield any
records responsive to your request.”195
By April 16, the total number of known confirmed positive cases
had reached approximately 550. At this point, there had only
been one in-person inspection of the plant, that being AHS’ April
7 visit, which resulted in non-binding recommendations. And, as
mentioned, there was no epidemiological analysis of the outbreak
showing the temporal pattern of the spread within the plant and
in the community.
An internal AHS MOH update on April 17 noted that “84% of
new COVID-19 cases [in the province] are in Calgary Zone, ‘most
related to Cargill.”196 By this time, a Cargill worker and union shop
steward had been admitted to an ICU. On April 18, another worker
would need life support care in the ICU. Cargill, AHS, and OHS had
lost control of the outbreak.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ou6sjyhswn7s3qyfqhw7mbk6/bafkreievc5urg7ipxcuw4jug5bbwo4tro6fpdptwv4r4gsvwjbtxvm2pwa)
![Echoing Cargill’s response to the union’s April 12 letter, Dreeshen
cautioned workers not to listen to “inflammatory rhetoric” and
appealed to them to instead focus on information from public
health experts:
“…On this call are Alberta’s best medical minds and
they provide Alberta’s government with the best up
to date information on a daily basis and I would just
like to encourage everyone to not get distracted by
misleading noise or inflammatory rhetoric because
any government's primary goal — our core goal — is
to keep our people safe…”
Immediately after the town hall, Dreeshen posted on his social
media: “Directly communicated with [Cargill] workers to reassure
them that their worksite is safe.”217 Internal email messages
among senior officials with the Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry suggest there was also “a request” to share some “key
messages” about the safety of Cargill’s plant through Hinshaw’s
Twitter account.218
Hours after the town hall, Dr. Nick Etches, acting lead medical
officer of health for the Calgary Zone, wrote to colleagues
requesting assistance with an epidemiological analysis of
the outbreak:
“[Hu] just spoke with [Hinshaw] and she wants us
to answer some questions that will likely require
additional epi support. Essentially we want to
determine the proportion of the Cargill-associated
cases that are due to:
1) Workplace transmission](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ou6sjyhswn7s3qyfqhw7mbk6/bafkreiducdnl5mzbehcbulfzcxrgndii3fjhezu7znkdstgpwd26gtcy2i)
![This image describes the Canadian COVID Forecast for the fourteen-day period between Sep 12 - Sep 25, 2026, which is produced by COVID-19 Resources Canada. British Columbia's COVID Forecast outlook is HIGH [no change] with a COVID INDEX SCORE of 8.9
About 1 of every 72 people is infected.
Estimated infections this week: 44,900-91,700
What these numbers mean: MODERATE 1-5, HIGH 5-10, VERY HIGH 10-15, SEVERE >15 COMPARED TO THE LOWEST POINT IN THE COVID PANDEMIC IN CANADA
How much higher are key indicators compared to the lowest point in the COVID pandemic in Canada?
Waste water, infections: HIGH; 8.1X higher
Long COVID: MODERATE; 2.9X higher
Hospitalizations: HIGH; 8.5X higher
Deaths: VERY HIGH; 10.0X higher
HOW TO HELP:
EVERYONE:
UPDATE vaccines every 6 months
WEAR N95-type masks
Who is HIGH RISK?
People 60 and older, babies < 1 year, pregnant
ALL AGES: immunocompromised OR medically at-risk OR no vaccine or infection in the last 6 months
Recommendations are based on the COVID-19 Risk Index from the Peterborough ON Public Health Unit
COVID-19 Resources Canada is a grassroots organization of volunteer scientists supporting Canadian COVID responses. Sources, data and methods for the COVID Index are available at www.Covid19Resources.ca](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qbuobwdie7rzq4fburk63aft/bafkreigr6xcuxekripnjhk4xuerntuuzpvhkcxg3klu3d6zufzqykx53o4)
![This image describes the Canadian COVID Forecast for the fourteen-day period between Sep 12 - Sep 25, 2026, which is produced by COVID-19 Resources Canada. Canada’s COVID Forecast outlook is MODERATE [no change] with a COVID INDEX SCORE of 4.0
About 1 of every 158 people is infected.
Estimated infections this week: 151,700-309,800
What these numbers mean: MODERATE 1-5, HIGH 5-10, VERY HIGH 10-15, SEVERE >15 COMPARED TO THE LOWEST POINT IN THE COVID PANDEMIC IN CANADA
How much higher are key indicators compared to the lowest point in the COVID pandemic in Canada?
Waste water, infections: MODERATE; 3.9X higher
Long COVID: MODERATE; 2.9X higher
Hospitalizations: MODERATE; 4.2X higher
Deaths: MODERATE; 3.9X higher
HOW TO HELP:
EVERYONE:
UPDATE vaccines every 6 months
WEAR N95-type masks
Who is HIGH RISK?
People 60 and older, babies < 1 year, pregnant
ALL AGES: immunocompromised OR medically at-risk OR no vaccine or infection in the last 6 months
Recommendations are based on the COVID-19 Risk Index from the Peterborough ON Public Health Unit
COVID-19 Resources Canada is a grassroots organization of volunteer scientists supporting Canadian COVID responses. Sources, data and methods for the COVID Index are available at www.Covid19Resources.ca](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qbuobwdie7rzq4fburk63aft/bafkreif7khgr3smag5s2uvat4as4724n2eh3wpvkxogot67wkz36maur7e)
