From your concerned PALbertans (you know, a pal who happens to be from Alberta).

We are requesting your assistance. We as Albertans demand access to the Canadian COVID Alert App. 

This is a petition about saving lives, about preventing disease, and improving the tracking of COVID-19 cases within Alberta and between provinces. 

With a growing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Alberta, we ask the Government of Alberta to provide Albertans access to the Canadian COVID Alert App immediately.

Our numbers today are triple the number in March, April and May when our province initially locked down. Albertan COVID-19 tracers are overburdened, causing delays in the notifications of exposed individuals, and causing increased numbers and spread of the virus. Our ICUs are nearly at capacity, and Albertans have been given the personal responsibility of dealing with the suggested health measures. 

To compound matters, the Alberta COVID Tracking App (ABTraceTogether), only works when a phone is unlocked, with the app open. Recent releases have stated this app has only successfully worked a total of 20 times. Unfortunately, this has not proven to be a successful tool for this pandemic. (FRANKLY, given the ~44,000 cases in Alberta alone, this app has failed us.)

The Canadian COVID Alert App, is not perfect, but it has been successful in actively alerting and tracking COVID-19 Exposures, and it works via bluetooth, in the background of your phone. This App has been downloaded 5,000,000 times, and has been used in over 5,000 cases of COVID-19. 

In summary, we ask our government to join the Canadian COVID Alert App for the following reasons: 

• To lower the number of cases in Alberta, and keep Albertans, and their families, safe; 
• To track cases due to travel between provinces and territories; 
  To help AHS Covid Trackers with alerting Albertans to their exposure to COVID-19; 
• To assist in preventing the spread of the virus by asymptomatic individuals, by requiring those exposed to isolate; and
• To provide Albertans with peace of mind, and reliable access to an effective COVID-19 exposure tracking application. 

More information: 

• Canadian COVID Alert App
• ABTraceTogether
• Why Is Alberta Clinging To Its Failed COVID-19 App? (The Sprawl)
• Government of Alberta - COVID-19 Cases Stats
• COVID-19 Update: Alberta hits record 1,584 new cases on Sunday | No new deaths | 60 people in ICU (Calgary Herald)
• A look inside an Alberta ICU as health-care workers struggle with COVID-19 surge (CBC)
• Albertans asking #WhereisKenney as province sets COVID-19 record again (CTV News)
• Alberta risks losing support on COVID-19 restrictions by withholding reasoning on decisions: opposition (Globe and Mail)