The Pulse: Feb. 12, 2021

While some Edmontonians celebrated restaurants opening their doors for dine-in service on Feb. 8, aerosol specialist Conor Ruzycki said he was “very frustrated by the situation.”

"We've decided to reopen indoor dining in (Alberta) despite the better judgement of basically everyone who understands how this virus spreads,” Ruzycki tweeted on the day restaurant restrictions were relaxed.

Ruzycki has been studying pharmaceutical aerosols for about 10 years and is a PhD candidate in the University of Alberta's mechanical engineering department. Since COVID-19 arrived in Canada last year, he has been researching mask and filtration technology. He said that Alberta's decision to open restaurants and bars for dine-in service has the potential to severely damage its efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The main problem with the decision to reopen, he told Taproot, is that it does not adequately consider the role of aerosol transmission in how the virus spreads, which is a particularly big factor in indoor spaces. Aerosols are small particles that can stay suspended in the air, and they can easily fill the space they are in.

"When you used to be able to smoke in restaurants, I remember going into places that would have smoking sections ... and you could see a big cloud in the space," he said. "That cloud is made up of aerosols."

Similar, invisible clouds of tiny COVID-19 particles can form over time as carriers of the virus, even if they are asymptomatic, take the time to sit down, talk to their cohort, order food, and eat. Ruzycki said that the current provincial health guidelines do not properly allow people to avoid or protect against

"There is this assumption that COVID-19 is only being spread by these really big droplets that fall to the ground immediately," he said. "With aerosols, they don't just fall to the ground. When you're sharing an indoor space with somebody else, there's no real concept of safe distance."

• The city is recommending that a proposed gondola connecting downtown Edmonton to Whyte Avenue through the river valley proceed to the design stage of the project. Council's urban planning committee will vote on the proposal on Feb. 16.
• CBC Edmonton's Henday Project covered how a concrete section of the Anthony Hendey ring road is "undergoing a second major rehabilitation as part of a $125-million expansion project expected to wrap up in 2022."
• The province will require a negative COVID-19 test at international land border crossings, beginning on Feb. 15.
• Following the announcement that Manitoba "made a deal to buy two million doses of a Calgary-made COVID-19 vaccine," Premier Jason Kenney said the province would be pursuing "additional domestic production of vaccines." Providence Therapeutics, which has partnered with Calgary's Northern RNA, has just started human clinical trials.

Stantec plans to be carbon neutral next year and net-zero operationally by the end of the decade as the Edmonton-based engineering-design firm retools to pursue growing business opportunities in the energy transition sector.

“We are making this commitment to do our part in protecting communities from the worst impacts of climate change,” said CEO Gord Johnston in announcing the company is committed to help limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

“Our team members apply sustainable best practices to projects around the world daily. By making this pledge we demonstrate that Stantec applies the same passion to address our own impact.”

Stantec, which has 350 locations on six continents, plans to reach its 2022 carbon-neutral goal through internal emission-reduction projects and the purchase of renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets. It will draw “on a combination of traditional and innovative pathways” to hit net-zero by 2030.

At the same time, the company is rebranding its sustainability and building performance office into a carbon impact team and its Innovation Office will fund projects to lower emissions.

The Turf District is a new podcast that's really an old podcast.

Like the Edmonton Football Team that it covers, the long-running CFL show underwent a rebrand last year. The new name, a wry commentary on the Ice District around Rogers Place, stands whether the team decides to call itself the Elks, the Evergolds, or any of the other choices under consideration.

The podcast's lineup remains the same, with hosts Andrew, SuperFan Mike, and Commissioner K sharing their love for the team, for the game, and for the CFL fan community. The previous incarnation of the show, which ran from 2015 to 2020, had a lot of success attracting players, coaches, trainers, and sports media to be guests, and it seems the new incarnation is the same — Episode 1 of The Turf District features an interview with Jaime Elizondo, the team's new head coach.

It's not yet clear when they'll have games to talk about. The pandemic cancelled last year's season; the league is hoping to resume in June.

(Disclosure: The Turf District is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network, which your correspondent founded.)