By Troy Gillard

Albertans can trust vaccine, Dr. Hinshaw says

Red Deer with 417 active COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday

Dec 16, 2020 | 4:04 PM

Alberta reported another 1,270 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

That’s out of 17,569 test results over the past 24 hours for a positivity rate of 7.2 per cent.

The number of active cases in the province sits at 20,169, a decrease of 480.

There have now been 63,668 recovered cases in the province, an increase of 1,734.

There are 749 people in hospital because of the novel coronavirus, an increase of seven, including 139 in ICU, an increase of two from Tuesday.

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Another 16 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported to bring Alberta’s total to 760.

In Red Deer, the number of active cases has risen by eight over the past 24 hours to 417. The number of recoveries has risen by 29 to 694 as the total number of cases attributed to the city rose by 37 to 1,111.

Red Deer County saw its active case count drop by six to sit at 99, while Sylvan Lake saw its drop by two to sit at 44.

Clearwater County (Rocky Mountain House) saw its active case count drop by six to a total of 58.

Lacombe County has 56 active cases as of Wednesday, a decrease of six.

The city of Lacombe’s active case count remains at 29.

Ponoka County saw its active case count rise by three to sit at 227.

Mountain View County has 30 active cases, a decrease of one, Olds has 28, an increase of one, and Kneehill County is down five to 19. Starland County remains with one active case, while the County of Stettler has 21, an increase of three.

There are now 1,458 active cases across the Central zone, a decrease of 36 from Tuesday, and 68 hospitalizations, an increase of three. There are four people in the zone currently in intensive care. The Central zone has had 27 deaths related to COVID-19, an increase of one over the last 24 hours.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw used her daily update on Wednesday to try to calm fears about the COVID-19 vaccine that was first administered in Alberta on Tuesday.

She said any new vaccine can cause anxiety and raise questions, but that Canada has one of the most robust regulatory systems for new vaccines in the world and that even though Health Canada moved quickly to approve the vaccine, no steps were skipped.

“The same rigorous testing and scrutiny was applied to this vaccine as to any new treatment,” said the chief medical officer of health. “A clinical trial with tens of thousands of participants from multiple countries found no safety concerns.”

Hinshaw said she believes the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks, and this vaccine will save lives.

“There is overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccination is the best defense against serious infections. When it is your turn, please get immunized. It is an act of kindness for yourself, for your loved ones and for your community.”