By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

sept. 4 update

Alberta hits 1 million COVID-19 tests completed

Sep 4, 2020 | 4:20 PM

More than one million COVID-19 tests have now been completed in the province since the pandemic hit Alberta in March.

To be exact, there have been 1,005,001 tests given to 792,965 individual Albertans. More than 10,700 were done in the last day alone.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday the milestone is a testament to the innovation of Alberta’s public health lab and other Alberta Health Services staff.

“I just want to express my gratitude for all the work that’s gone into each and every one of those samples as well as the follow-up of positive cases. It is a good opportunity to recognize the work that’s gone into that number,” Hinshaw said.

She added that with more people coming indoors as the temperatures dip, measures are being taken to ensure testing capacity is where it needs to be, and so that the turnaround for Albertans to receive test results isn’t overly long.

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Hinshaw was asked about anecdotal reports that Albertans are waiting sometimes six or more days.

“We have seen timelines that unfortunately are longer than we’d like them to be. We are working very closely with the lab and people at the lab are working incredibly hard to move through tens of thousands of samples every day,” she said. “We’ve had a bit of a backlog the last couple weeks. We are working very hard to get that turnaround time shortened and we recognize the challenges it poses for people waiting.”

The chief medical officer of health also encouraged all Albertans to have fun while making safety a priority this weekend.

“We are heading into the last long weekend of summer, and I know many people are excited to enjoy it. However, the number of cases being reported today is a clear reminder that we cannot afford to be reckless,” said Hinshaw. “COVID-19 does not take holidays and we have seen weekend barbecues and other gatherings spark outbreaks in the past.”

On Friday, Alberta Health reported 164 new cases of COVID-19 and 146 new recoveries in the past 24 hours.

Active cases are up 18 to 1,433, 47 people are in hospital, and nine patients are in intensive care.

Deaths remained at 242 on Friday,

In Central Zone, there are 40 active cases, up another four, while in Red Deer there are 14 active cases, an increase of one.

Elsewhere in Central Zone:

• Red Deer County: 1 active, 27 recovered
• Lacombe County: 5 (+1) active, 19 recovered
• Innisfail: 1 active, 6 recovered
• Sylvan Lake: 4 (+1) active, 9 recovered
• Lacombe: 1 active, 5 recovered
• Town of Olds: 1 active, 5 recovered
• Ponoka County: 0 active, 12 recovered
• Kneehill County: 0, active, 18 recovered
• Town and County of Stettler: 0 active, 44 recovered
• Rocky Mountain House: 0 active, 3 recovered
• Town of Ponoka: 0 active, 7 recovered
• Town of Sundre: 0 active, 1 recovered
• Town of Rimbey: 0 active, 2 recovered
• Town of Didsbury: 0 active, 8 recovered
• Drayton Valley: 0 active, 1 recovered
• Drumheller: 2 active, 19 recovered

More information is at alberta.ca/covid19.