By Troy Gillard

Chief medical officers shares daily update

Hinshaw thanks Albertans: ‘You are saving lives’

Apr 9, 2020 | 6:00 PM

Dr. Deena Hinshaw is thanking Albertans for what they’ve done to help slow the spread of COVID-19, saying the fact the actual current numbers are lower than the modelling released yesterday is thanks to Albertans.

Hinshaw announced 28 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta on Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 1,451. There are also 32 deaths, up three from Wednesday.

Central Zone, which includes Red Deer, saw an increase of zero cases from Wednesday to Thursday, and remains at 72 cases.

“You are saving lives,” Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said. “I know that the medicine of physical distancing that I’m currently prescribing is a bitter pill to swallow. I assure you that I am watching our numbers closely and working with many others to look forward to the time when we can start lifting some of these measures and making the so-called medicine more powerful.”

The three deaths were a woman in her 80s in the Calgary Zone, a man in his 70s the Edmonton Zone and a woman in her 60s in the Calgary Zone. One of the deaths was linked to an outbreak in a continuing care facility in Calgary. She said it highlights the need to keep people who live and work in such homes safe.

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“I know it is difficult to no longer be able to visit loved ones who reside in these facilities but this measure was necessary to keep everyone safe,” Hinshaw said.

Of the total number of cases in the province and additional 74 have recovered, bringing that total to 592.

There have been 1,333 tests done in the past 24 hours, said Hinshaw and she expects an increase in tests over the coming days after the testing restrictions were expanded this week.

(With file from Chris Brown, CHAT News Today)