Alberta sees ‘large and troubling’ increase in COVID-19 cases

There are 6,110 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 23,484 recoveries.

The province conducted 46,036 tests since the last update of numbers – 13,151 on Friday, 13,180 on Saturday, 11,287 on Sunday and 8,418 on Monday.

Currently, 167 Albertans are in hospital because of COVID-19, including 27 in intensive care.

Red Deer now has 60 active cases of COVID-19, an increase of 14 from Friday’s total of 46. The city has recorded 158 recoveries as the total number of cases has reached 218.

With an active case rate of 56.6 per 100,000, Red Deer is now under a provincial COVID-19 Watch.

Sylvan Lake saw a noticeable rise in active cases as the town went from having one as of Friday to six as of Tuesday.

Red Deer County has seven active cases. Lacombe County has three and the city of Lacombe has five.

Rocky Mountain House has also seven active cases as of Tuesday, as does Mountain View County. Olds has two active cases while the County of Stettler remains with none.

A COVID-19 Watch is in effect for Ponoka County with 49 active cases and Kneehill County with 12.

The Central Zone has 235 active cases as of Tuesday, and three hospitalizations.

After the regular weekend break from updates – and one more day due to maintenance on the reporting site – the province announced four days’ worth of cases on Tuesday.

Dr. Hinshaw said the lab positivity rate in the province has risen to 6.8 per cent and in Edmonton it is almost nine per cent. The growth rate in Calgary remains high with an r-value of 1.2 over the past five days. There are more than 2,500 active cases in each city.

“This is not good news. This is a problem,” she said. She also called the sharp increase of hospitalizations a concern.

One promising development is that Edmonton has reached an r-value of 1 over the past five days. She said that shows voluntary measures introduced last month have had an effect, but it’s only a start.

R-value is a reproduction number that shows how many people are being infected by each infected person.

Hinshaw stressed the differences between COVID and influenza, among them that there is no vaccine for COVID-19, and that COVID is more deadly than influenza, especially seasonal influenza.

She added the peak number of deaths from flu in any one flu season is 92.

“We cannot treat this virus as something that our health system can easily absorb, or something that will simply depart when spring arrives,” Hinshaw said, again stressing the importance of getting a flu shot.

She also stressed the importance of families isolating even within their own household, enhanced cleaning and wearing a mask inside.

A large portion of the transmission being seen is within households, she said.

She asked Albertans to engage in respectful debate.

“COVID-19 is new and there is no one right way to navigate this pandemic. What we do know, however, is that when COVID-19 starts to escalate it can do so quickly and dramatically,” she said.

She said it’s critical for all Albertans to follow all recommended health measures, regardless of where they live.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)

by Troy Gillard

Alberta sees ‘large and troubling’ increase in COVID-19 cases

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