William Shatner Drags Alberta For Not Adopting Federal COVID Alert App

Captain Kirk has some words about Alberta ’s COVID-19 pandemic response. 

In a tweet Wednesday, Canadian actor and longtime “Star Trek” star William Shatner called attention to the province’s unwillingness to adopt the federal COVID Alert app.

“Now you just need to get Alberta on board,” the actor wrote. “I’ve heard that certain people have an issue with the app because they have their own app.”

The tweet came after Health Canada’s Twitter account thanked Shatner for promoting the federal app. In a previous tweet, Shatner recommended Canadians download the app to “keep our loved ones and our community safe.” 

Alberta and British Columbia remain the only provinces yet to adopt the federal app. While repeatedly refusing the federal app, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has touted the province’s own app ABTraceTogether as an alternative to the COVID Alert app. 

Data revealed in mid-November that the Alberta app had only been used to identify 19 positive COVID-19 cases and 70 close contacts in the province since its launch in May. 

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro defended the app, arguing that more people are downloading it every day.

“Our cases are increasing. We are concerned with those rising numbers. This is one of our many tools to relieve and assist the pressures on our contact tracers,” Shandro said back then.

The province suspended most official contact tracing a month ago due to surging case rates. As of Dec. 2, Alberta contains both the highest per capita rate of active cases and number of total active COVID-19 cases in Canada. 

Alberta reported 1,685 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, for a total of 17,144 active cases .