Red Deer up one to 162 active COVID-19 cases

Another 12 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours to bring Alberta’s total from COVID-19 to 1,599.

Through the end of Tuesday, Alberta has administered 101,123 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. More than 11,000 Albertans have now received two doses and are fully inoculated.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Red Deer as of Wednesday sits at 162, up one from Tuesday. There have been 1,631 recoveries, an increase of 21 as the total number of cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 22 to a total of 1,811.

Red Deer County has 32 active cases as of Wednesday, an increase of one, while Sylvan Lake is down three to 21.

Lacombe County has 28 active cases, an increase of five, and the city of Lacombe has 20, unchanged over the past 24 hours.

Clearwater County (Rocky Mountain House) has 54 active cases, a decrease of 14.

The active case count in Ponoka County sits at 178, down 18 over the past 24 hours.

Mountain View County is down two to 19 active cases, Olds is down three to sit with 12 and Kneehill County remains with four. Stettler and County have four active cases, a decrease of one.

The Central Zone as a whole has 712 active cases as of Wednesday, a decrease of 63, with 49 hospitalizations, including 13 receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital. The zone has had 84 deaths as a result of COVID-19, including one reported in the past 24 hours.

Currently, 288 schools in the province, about 12 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 554 cases in total. There are 273 schools on alert, with 428 total cases. Outbreaks are declared in 15 schools, with a total of 126 cases. The province says in-school transmission has likely occurred in 53 schools and that these, 41 have had only one new case occur as a result.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Wednesday that the situation in hospitals across the province is being monitored but provided no update on when some of the current restrictions will be eased, only saying they hope to do so soon.

“It is essential that we keep the restrictions in place for a little while longer so we can ensure care is readily available for all Albertans across the province whatever their health needs are,” said Hinshaw on Wednesday.

Hinshaw said it’s important to keep in mind the health-care system is a provincial one as a number of restaurants in Alberta opened for dine-in this week in clear defiance of the public health orders.

“These actions could potentially put at risk the sacrifices that we’ve made and this progress that we’ve made over the past couple of months,” she said. “Decisions that are being made to open in contravention of the orders are not in the best interest of our communities.

She added the frontline workers whose job it is to protect our communities and to ensure that the public health orders are in place will speak with these people, reminding them why the measures are in place, of preventing the spread and of the potential penalties if people continue to choose to not follow those orders.

The health-care system remains under strain despite hospitalizations dropping since Dec. 30 from 943 to 604 and ICU admissions from 155 to 110, Hinshaw said.

“There are just as many people in hospital today as there were on Dec. 4, when our acute care system was struggling under the impact of COVID-19,” said the chief medical officer of health.

She explained the number of patients in COVID beds and the precautions that must be taken to prevent the spread of the virus in hospital creates a trickle-down effect. She said it means fewer beds available for people who suffer heart attacks, strokes or other ailments, which could mean more time in emergency rooms, leading them to fill up faster and further backing up the system and leaving people in waiting rooms.

That all leads to fewer doctors or nurses available for frontline care and to postponing non-urgent surgeries.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)

by Troy Gillard

Red Deer up one to 162 active COVID-19 cases

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