System misused

By Letter to the Editor on May 7, 2021.

Editor: I am writing tonight to express my disgust at this government’s negligent and reckless use of the Emergency Alert System.
That system is meant to be used for time sensitive, immediate emergencies where lives are in imminent danger and swift action is imperative. Not to send out messages from a government who just told us the exact same things yesterday. Whatever you think of the legitimacy of the content of the message, using the emergency alert system to spread it was inappropriate and irresponsible.
Children who read that message on devices or their TVs were frightened and needed to be soothed, comforted that they were safe. I have heard multiple stories of elementary aged children who read the message, and, misunderstanding the confusing wording, were terrified that they were going to be required to stay inside until everyone had been vaccinated.
Seniors living alone, who already struggle to keep up with the technology, having that startling sound come through their phone, and having to try to figure out how to silence it, and then decipher the confusing message.
All of these people, terrified, only to realize (maybe much later, after needing someone to explain it to them), that it was just a regurgitation of everything the government announced. athetic.
I’ve already heard of dozens of Albertans deactivating the emergency system from their phone (instructional videos are circulating on Facebook), and just the one “false alarm” is enough to cast serious doubt on the real importance of the next “emergency.”
I think they need to think this through again.
Save the emergency system for emergencies.
Kelsie Petersen
A Frustrated Albertan