By rdnewsNOW staff

daily record shattered

Close to 800 new COVID-19 cases in Alberta

Nov 5, 2020 | 5:10 PM

A full update of COVID-19 cases in Alberta was unavailable Thursday, but the numbers Dr. Deena Hinshaw did share were stark.

“While I don’t have detailed case numbers today, I can tell you that about 800 new cases have been identified in the past 24 hours,” the province’s top doctor said, calling the new daily case record for Alberta extremely concerning.

“Unless our numbers decline dramatically in the next few days, we will have to consider additional measures to bring COVID numbers down in order to protect our health system.”

A technical issue in the province’s reporting system is delaying the sharing of detailed case numbers, meaning they won’t be available again until Friday. Red Deer had 63 active cases as of Wednesday.

Hinshaw said the rising cases mean the measures introduced 10 days ago are not having enough of an effect and that in about seven to 10 days hospital numbers will rise further, further impacting care for Albertans with other issues.

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“One significant concern I have is around the high proportion of active cases being identified who attended work or social events while symptomatic,” Hinshaw explained.

She said in Edmonton nine per cent of active cases went to work while symptomatic, and eight per cent went to retail or service businesses and eight per cent went to social gatherings while symptomatic.

In Calgary, 11 per cent went to work, nine per cent travelled and seven per cent attended a social gathering.

“I am calling on Albertans to please stop all activities if you have any symptoms,” she implored.

“Unless our numbers decline dramatically in the next few days, we will have to consider additional measures to bring COVID numbers down in order to protect our health system. We also need to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes.”

She acknowledged the inconvenience and it can create tough choices for some. She also asked employers to recognize the difficulties faced by employees.

Hinshaw said she is also concerned by the number of unknown exposures, and that until more contact tracers can be hired and trained, efforts in contact tracing will be focused on high priority settings only.

“We need to change the trend in this province,” Hinshaw said, adding that rising numbers outside Calgary and Edmonton are a worry as 46 municipalities are on “watch.”

On Thursday, AHS released its second weekly report of the 2020-21 influenza season. It shows 858,320 doses of influenza vaccine have been administered in the province as of Oct. 31, 77,827 of them in the Central Zone.

Alberta has not had a confirmed case of influenza yet this season. AHS says the lab confirmed influenza case included in last week’s update, which was subtyped as a novel strain – H1N2 (swine flu), has been removed from seasonal reporting because it is not considered a seasonal strain of influenza.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)