Part 2 - My experience with supports in the system

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has done some things well and others ineffectively. I will say that everyone I have talked to has been pleasant and supportive. I have talked to many nurses through this process and they have all been great. Not surprisingly I have not always received consistent information but when dealing with human beings that is to be expected. The testing process was efficient, my results came through relatively quickly and they have met the expectations more often than not that they set throughout this process. On the flip side of the process, AHS contacted me about the workplace side of what I need to do 11 days into my quarantine to inform me that the staff that came in close contact with me needed to quarantine themselves for 14 days. They also called me on a Saturday evening so I was informed that I needed to let my staff know the requirement for their quarantine effectively after 13 days (the Monday) of their 14-day quarantine. To be honest when I tested positive we requested that everyone is tested and we shut down the office to move to remote work. To my knowledge, everyone tested negative and were quarantining anyways so although there was a significant delay in contact from AHS I think we handled the situation as well as we could have. However, if we did not handle this the way we did there would have been numerous people out and about in the city potentially infected that didn't know that they shouldn't be interacting with others thus causing a super spread.

The same can be said for my daughter and son. When I tested positive, the results came in quickly, so my family tested the next day. They obviously quarantined immediately. However, if they were positive then that means they were at school while positive. No one is notified of my kids' exposure until their test comes back positive. Luckily they came back negative but 3 days after their test. However, if one of them was positive, it would have taken a week to inform the school and those kids that came into contact with them to be notified which means those exposed kids were potentially spreading it around exponentially without knowing of possible exposure. I can't help but wonder if this is why the numbers are so high right now in Alberta.

After my wife tested positive, a contact tracer never contacted her. My contact tracer contacted me four days after I had symptoms.

Lastly, there is a pilot project that is reducing the quarantine times for travellers. The challenge for me in this is that the two people that tested positive in my circle both only had positive tests after eight days of close contact with me or more. This exceeds the pilot time frame allowing people to leave quarantine so I admit that I am suspicious this is not a good idea. I suspect 10 days would be a better period than 6 days. However, I am not a scientist only speaking from personal experience. I can also appreciate the mental health issues that arise from quarantining everyone. This has not been easy on my family or my business which has clearly been a stressful experience.

Part three will focus on the business while dealing with positive Covid cases.