- Mayor Don Iveson told reporters on Monday that the city is exploring a vaccine mandate for municipal employees, as staff prepare to return to city hall next month. Next Monday, the city will also present amendments to reinstate mandatory masks on transit and vehicles-for-hire.
- The Royal Alexandra Hospital has seen a "dramatic, noticeable increase" in opioid poisoning cases in the past several months, according to physician Dr. Shazma Mithani. Firefighters and paramedics are also grappling with the uptick in calls, reports the Edmonton Journal.
- Nearly all school-aged children will return to in-class learning in September, according to numbers released by Edmonton's two major school boards. Edmonton Catholic Schools will see 96.8% of students returning to the classroom, while Edmonton Public Schools will see 95%.
- Bayern Munich soccer star Alphonso Davies penned a letter of encouragement to the six members of the Refugee Paralympic Team. Davies, who grew up in Edmonton, was born in a refugee camp in Ghana to Liberian parents who fled the civil war. He's a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
- Despite looking a little different, this year's Edmonton International Fringe Festival reported more than 37,000 tickets sold, 149 sold-out performances and more than 10,000 visits to ATB Park. Digital content was also streamed more than 2,700 times on FringeTV.
- Edmonton hockey fans are anxiously awaiting COVID-19 safety protocols from the Oilers Entertainment Group. On Monday, the Calgary Flames, Stampeders, Roughnecks and Hitmen announced that proof of vaccination would be required to attend games at the Saddledome and McMahon Stadium.
- Emergency medicine doctors are calling out Alberta Health Services for downplaying the significance of staff shortages in an op-ed last month. ER doctors say that emergency rooms are seeing a 10% to 20% increase over pre-pandemic levels, and that they are worried about the rising number of new COVID-19 cases.
