Dead Wild Roses

Organized religion makes people stupid.  This is a tale of a church and congregation in Alberta that kept going without following any public health guidance, as if we were not in a pandemic and that everything was right as rain.  Reminds me of the religious wisdom available circa 1347:

Not exactly the best strategy for dealing with an infection disease.  Yet, in the here and now of 2021 the religious persist.

“AHS [Alberta Health Services] said it has attempted to work collaboratively with the church for months to address ongoing public health concerns.

Steps taken before Wednesday’s physical closure include:

• An order issued by AHS on Dec. 17 requiring the church to comply with restrictions ordered by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.
• A Court of Queen’s Bench order obtained Jan. 21 requiring the church to comply with the previous order.
• A closure order issued Jan. 29 requiring closure until compliance with the restrictions was attained.
• On March 27, AHS sent a letter to Coates providing him with information on the continued spread of COVID-19.
• Last week AHS invited Coates to meet virtually to discuss the risks presented by COVID-19, but the church has not provided any dates to meet.

GraceLife Church “has decided not to follow these mandatory restrictions, nor have they attempted to work with AHS to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” AHS said in the media statement.”

Finally GraceLife church was shut down.

“Alberta Health Services has closed GraceLife Church in Parkland County west of Edmonton.

In an emailed statement to CBC News Wednesday morning, RCMP confirmed they were on scene, assisting AHS as they closed the church under Section 62.1 of the Alberta Public Health Act.

As of 8:30 a.m., police vehicles and unmarked SUVs were blocking entrances to the church parking lot. 

In a media statement, AHS said it “physically closed” the church and has prevented access until the church “can demonstrate the ability to comply with Alberta’s chief medical officer of health’s restrictions.”

It only took a year and a bit to nip this cluster of superspreaders in the bud.  Our current government has demonstrated repeatedly (until now) that it will not enforce public health regulations so we should not be surprised with the length of time involved with this particular case of religious inanity.

The United Conservative Party of Alberta has consistently chosen the ‘middle road’ when it has come to policy decisions between keeping the economy open and locking down the province to combat the COVID19 virus.  The result has been a roller coaster of half measures and half steps that instead of getting the transmissibility rate down to 0 we are following the historical pattern – experiencing first, second, and now third waves of infection (with a fourth coming as in the USA, because of the dithering of the government).

The Gracelife debacle illustrates how the government in pandering to its ‘base’ is only prolonging the epidemic in Alberta, and ultimately, allowing more people to unnecessarily die.  It is policy position that is illogical, science denying, and morally unconscionable.

Unfortunately for Albertans, this is par for the course for this government so fully expect the shit-show to continue.

[Source: cbc.ca]