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Staffing levels for municipal services ranging from recreation to policing are being squeezed by skyrocketing COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant, the head of Calgary’s emergency management agency said Wednesday.
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The sharp rise in cases has meant more sickness and more absences among city staff, CEMA chief Susan Henry said during a press conference at the city’s emergency operations centre. While the numbers are changing daily, officials estimate between 25 and 50 employees are calling in sick each day.
“Citizens will already notice that some city services have been affected by staff shortages due to COVID and these changes are likely to continue for the coming weeks,” Henry said.
The Calgary Police Service is also contending with the highest number of COVID infections among employees since the start of the pandemic, Henry said.
Currently, there are 36 members of CPS who have tested positive for COVID-19 — 33 of whom were fully vaccinated, according to numbers provided by the police. A further 35 CPS employees are in isolation awaiting test results.
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“Calgary police has started to redeploy officers from other areas of the organization to support the frontline workers who were already stretched thin prior to this wave of COVID-19,” Henry said.
“There will be some impact on other services that are provided by Calgary police, including proactive community policing, youth intervention and support services, as well as the increased length of investigation for some offences.”
The city is encouraging Calgarians to use CPS’ online reporting system for non-urgent incidents.
Rapid testing for municipal employees is also expanding. Voluntary rapid testing is now being provided to vaccinated city employees who work in the delivery of essential services, the city said. Previously, only unvaccinated employees were receiving rapid tests twice a week.
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The manager of the city’s occupational health and safety program, Cameron Nicolson, said the city had received a new shipment of over 100,000 rapid tests on Tuesday.
There are also contingency plans in place to allow essential municipal employees who are positive for COVID-19 to continue working if they’re feeling well enough; Nicolson said examples could include an employee who is mildly ill continuing to work in a vehicle plowing snow from city roads, or water services employees continuing to work in a control centre even while mildly ill.
“Seeing the wastewater data from the University of Calgary, it is quite clear that many Calgarians are currently sick with COVID, probably with the Omicron variant,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek Wednesday.
“It is a fast spreading variant and it is highly transmissible. It moves quickly and we need to move quicker, as a result.”
Winter swim lessons and playschool programming has been postponed until Jan. 10. Public skate times have been cancelled in until further notice at all city-operated arenas, except the Village Square and Southland leisure centres.
The city is also extending its mobile vaccination program. Around 5000 vaccinations have been provided to Calgarians since the program launched last year.
mpotkins@postmedia.com
Twitter: @mpotkins
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