Alta. measles patients being asked to wait in vehicles to be triaged

Alberta says it is not declaring a public health emergency over measles as cases continue to rise in the province.

Some Alberta measles patients are being asked to wait in their vehicle to be triaged to avoid exposing emergency department patients to the disease.

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Covenant Health on Thursday confirmed the process is used at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton when it is safe to do so, “like many other sites in Alberta,” because of an increase in measles patients.

“The triage process will now occur in the ambulance bay rather than waiting for isolation rooms, as it expedites the process and ensures patients receive the care they require depending on presenting symptoms,” communications manager Janet Laurie told CTV News Edmonton in an email.

Grey Nuns and other Edmonton hospitals have been the sites of recent measles exposures.

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Every hospital’s screening process is designed in accordance with its infrastructure, capacity and resources, and can “leverage similar operational strategies for patient management as needed,” Laurie said. For example, a smaller site may only have one airborne isolation room in their emergency department.

Grey Nuns’ ambulance bay has three lanes, so EMS will “always” have room, she added.

Public health emergency status unwarranted: government

Measles is highly transmissible and can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis and death for vulnerable people.

Alberta has the most measles cases in North America on a per-capita basis, with 1,267 confirmed cases since March.

According to the latest data available on Friday, there were 15 active cases in the province, a level that has been maintained for several weeks, said the Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services.

A ministry spokesperson said the government is not considering declaring a public health emergency because the data does not warrant it.

“As of now, there are two patients in hospital, and at no point have more than three or four patients been hospitalized at once,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

“Three of the five health zones have not seen any significant recent increase in cases. Weekly case numbers have now declined for four consecutive weeks and are roughly half of what they were at the recent peak.”

Experts worry summer events, like the Calgary Stampede and Edmonton’s KDays, and travel will make the problem worse, however.

“The good thing about Stampede is the fact that it’s outdoors predominantly, so that does help with things like air flow. But when people are crammed together … it really negates that. So it means when they’re that close to each other, there’s a high risk for transmission, particularly for a virus like measles that thrives in that sort of a close environment,” said Dr. Dale Kalina Samji, infectious disease specialist and a chief medical information officer in Brantford, Ont.

“The most important thing to keep in mind is that if you’ve had two doses of the measles vaccine, you should be considered safe. There will be some spillover cases, but it’s so important to have both of those doses of the vaccine before you attend any event.”

• What is the risk of catching measles during summer travel? Here’s what experts say

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Lampa