Alberta announced another 1,307 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
That’s out of 15,816 tests completed over the past 24 hours for a positivity rate of nearly 8.3 per cent.
There are now 16,628 active cases in the province, an increase of 174.
The number of recoveries sits at 42,305, an increase of 1,123.
There are 479 people in hospital because of COVID-19, an increase of 26, including 97 in intensive care, an increase of one.
Another 10 deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday to bring Alberta’s total to 551.
Red Deer has 257 active cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, an increase of 21. There have now been 356 recovered cases, an increase of 12, as the total number of cases attributed to the city rose by 33 to 613.
Red Deer County has 73 active cases as of Tuesday, an increase of two, while Sylvan Lake added seven to sit with 64.
Lacombe County has 46 active cases, a decrease of two, while Lacombe held steady with 39.
Clearwater County (Rocky Mtn. House) added four more active cases for a total of 38.
Ponoka County saw its active case count drop by 28 to 222.
Mountain View County has 18 active cases, a decrease of one, Olds added two for a total of 23, and Kneehill County dropped one to sit with 12. Starland County remains with four, while the County of Stettler is up three for a total of 13 active cases.
There are now 1,249 active cases in the Central zone, an increase of 11, with 35 hospitalizations, including five in intensive care. The Central zone has seen a total of 16 deaths from COVID-19.
On Tuesday, parents at Normandeau School were notified of a positive case of COVID-19, and that the school is now under outbreak status due to multiple cases identified in the school within a 14 day period.
Notre Dame High School in Red Deer reported another case of COVID-19 on Monday, as did St. Francis of Assisi Middle School, Mountview Elementary School, Central Middle School and Annie L. Gaetz Elementary. École Barrie Wilson officials informed parents of a case of COVID-19 on Sunday.
Currently, 393 schools in the province, about 16 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,453 cases in total. Of those, 186 schools are on alert, with 281 total cases. Outbreaks are declared in 207 schools, including 92 on watch, with a total of 1,172 cases. So far, in-school transmission has likely occurred in 241 schools. Of these, 123 have had only one new case result.
With Albertans starting to plan holiday gatherings, the chief medical officer of health said that in a year that is anything but typical, how we celebrate won’t be typical either.
“This will be the year for getting together remotely or having small outdoor activities where everyone can keep their distance,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said.
She encouraged Albertans to begin preparing for a much different holiday season and to think of creative ways to celebrate safely.
She said this is not the year for in-person office parties, large dinners with friends and extended family and that anyone making plans it is best to assume you will still be limiting contact with anyone outside your household.
The government cabinet will make decisions later this month about what restrictions will be in place during the last week of December, Hinshaw said, noting that past holiday gatherings have led to increases in cases and outbreaks.
“Celebrating virtually, or with members of your own household, pose the least risk for spread,” she said. “Of course the options we will have for the upcoming holidays depend on what we all do right now.”
Hinshaw said the “trajectory of spread” is an important metric to consider when advice is given to cabinet when making any decisions about restrictions in the future.
She said the r-value (the number, on average, of people that one infected person will pass a virus to) needs to be “below one so we actually start decreasing the number of new cases that we have.”
The number of new daily cases is an important partner to that metric, she added.
Red Deer and much of the surrounding region remains on the provincial “Watch” list and is in enhanced status. In enhanced status, risk levels require enhanced public health measures to control the spread and are informed by local context.
Regions are placed on the province’s “Watch” list when they have a rate of more than 50 active cases per 100,000 population. Medicine Hat’s 105 active cases among 68,057 people puts it at a rate of 154.3.
