The Pulse: May 5, 2021

Here's what you need to know about Edmonton today.

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Essentials

  • 17°C: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud near noon. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h near noon. High 17. (forecast)
  • 4-1: The Oilers (32-17-2) enjoyed another victory against the Canucks (19-25-3). (details)
  • 93: Connor McDavid is just seven points away from hitting 100 points, with five games left in the season. (details)

Municipal leaders divided on 'hot spot' approach to public health restrictions

Municipal leaders divided on 'hot spot' approach to public health restrictions


By Jackson Spring in the Regional Roundup

The Alberta government announced new COVID-19 restrictions on May 4, as mayors in the Edmonton region continued to grapple with whether public health restrictions should apply to every municipality, or if only areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases should be targeted. 

The new mandatory measures, which include restrictions for schools, outdoor gatherings, retail, patios, and more, arrived as cases continued to rapidly rise. The measures apply to "municipalities or areas with more than 50 cases per 100,000 people and with 30 or more active cases." Areas that don't meet those numbers will still be required to return to Step 0 level restrictions. 

Municipalities in the Edmonton region aren't currently included on the province's list of areas that fall below that threshold. This marks a change from the province's decision on April 29 to implement a series of restrictions for municipalities with more than 350 active cases per 100,000 people and more than 250 cases in total.

Earlier this week, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said region-wide restrictions would be more effective at limiting the spread of the virus because having different rules between municipalities could encourage people to travel to more open areas.

"As soon as we were declared a hot spot and had to shut down certain activities, people from Edmonton were calling to try to book recreation facilities and ice time in the bedroom communities and counties around us," he said on May 3. 

Before the new restrictions were announced, City of Leduc Mayor Bob Young told Taproot he is comfortable with the province's approach and didn't think people would abuse differing restrictions.

"The people in our community are fairly aware of the rules," he said. "I'm hoping that most people are only traveling when necessary."

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Headlines


By Michelle Ferguson

  • The Valley Line Southeast LRT from downtown to Mill Woods is expected to open in late 2021, reports the Edmonton Journal. The 13-kilometre line was expected to open last December, but hit some early roadblocks. At the end of February, construction was 89% complete.
  • The 2021 construction season will be one of the city's busiest with 268 capital projects underway. The $1-billion season will contribute to 13,000 jobs and "help position the city and region for a stronger economic recovery."
  • Root 107, part of Downtown Spark, will stay open until May 17. The Downtown Business Association is still working to extend the pop-up park at 107 Street and 101 Avenue until the fall.
  • The Edmonton Fire Services' hazardous material team found acid in the Mill Creek Ravine after a few dogs got sick from licking the orange coloured substance, reports CTV Edmonton.
  • Some Edmonton businesses have expressed frustration over the province's new, temporary restrictions. Under the new measures, restaurants will be limited to takeout and delivery, and retail businesses will only be able to serve 10% of its capacity or a minimum of five customers. "Pivoting back to just takeout programs is difficult for a lot of us," said Mercer Tavern general manager Bryan Schmidt, "especially with the investment we just made into patios and bringing our entire restaurant outdoors."
  • The province introduced new restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19, starting May 5. The measures affect outdoor sports and gatherings, schools, places of worship and businesses and will be in place for at least three weeks. Mayor Don Iveson tweeted that he was "glad to see the new measures include the entire Edmonton Metro Region," unlike those announced last week.
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KOVR tests made-in-Edmonton VR platform with diabetes patients

KOVR tests made-in-Edmonton VR platform with diabetes patients


By Hiba Kamal-Choufi in the Health Innovation Roundup

Edmonton-based virtual reality developer KOVR has started testing its new VR platform with patients diagnosed with diabetes. The software, Stratos, aims to educate patients about the consequences of vision impairment from diabetic retinopathy.

"This whole concept is desired to reduce catastrophic eye failure due to diabetes through education," KOVR’s chief marketing officer Michael Bowman told Taproot. “By doing so, we can reduce the surgical cost to the healthcare system.”

Bowman explained that the goal with Stratos is to build learning and education modules for patients and the wider medical community.

KOVR has already tested the beta version of Stratos in addition to its first piece of education software, the Diabetic Retinopathy Module (DRM), and selected a group of patients for the testing.

"We've created an experience called the DRM, and we are now able to put diabetic patients into real-world environments … where they're going to be challenged to do everyday tasks," explained Bowman. "They're going to be exposed to the type of vision loss they may be subjected to if they do not follow the recommended treatment and examination plans put forward by their doctors."

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Sedges in the water at Rundle Park

Quiz time: Parks

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Test your knowledge with this daily quiz, brought to you by the People's Agenda project:

How many Edmonton picnic sites will be designated to allow drinking starting May 28?

  1. 7
  2. 17
  3. 27
  4. 37
  5. 47

See Thursday's issue of The Pulse for the answer.

The answer to the May 4 quiz was d — the Conference Board of Canada predicts that Edmonton's GDP will grow by 6.3% in 2021.

What do you want the candidates to be talking about as they compete for your vote? Add your voice to the People's Agenda.

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