By Troy Gillard

New city record

Red Deer with 454 active COVID-19 cases

Feb 17, 2021 | 4:27 PM

Alberta confirmed 277 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

That’s out of 7,476 test results over the past 24 hours for a positivity rate of about 3.7 per cent.

The number of active cases across the province is down to 4,857, a decrease of 136 from Tuesday. Recoveries are up 4,065 to a total of 122,960.

There are 370 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, up five from Tuesday, including 60 in intensive care, up four.

“Our number of hospitalizations has plateaued over the past few days, which is a reminder that we must continue to protect the health system,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said during her daily update.

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Alberta has identified four additional variants of concern, bringing the provincial total to 225.

Seven additional COVID-19 deaths were reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours to bring the province’s total as of Wednesday to 1,798.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Red Deer as of Wednesday is up to 454, an increase of 34 from Tuesday and a new record for the city. There have been 1,894 recoveries, an increase of 12 as the total number of cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 46 to a total of 2,370. The number of deaths in Red Deer because of COVID-19 remains 22.

Active cases across Central Zone as of Wednesday (by municipality):

Red Deer County: 38 (+3)

Sylvan Lake: 13 (-1)

Lacombe County: 10 (+1)

City of Lacombe: 33 (-2)

Ponoka County: 35 (-5)

Clearwater County: 12 (-4)

Brazeau County: 10 (+1)

Mountain View County: 9 (–)

Olds: 2 (–)

Kneehill County: 4 (–)

County of Stettler: 5 (–)

Alberta Health confirms that as of Wednesday there are 194 active cases linked to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Olymel pork processing facility in Red Deer. Total confirmed cases stemming from the outbreak sit at 354. There has been one death as a result of the outbreak.

The Central Zone has 697 active cases as of Wednesday, an increase of 18, with 31 hospitalizations. Four people are receiving intensive care for COVID-19 at Red Deer Regional Hospital. The zone has had 101 deaths as a result of COVID-19, none of which were reported in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 260 Alberta schools, about 11 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 862 cases in total. There are 205 schools are on alert (two or more cases), with 416 total cases. Outbreaks (10+ cases) are declared in 55 schools, with a total of 446 cases. The province says in-school transmission has likely occurred in 131 schools and that of these, 80 have had only one new case occur as a result.

Hinshaw on Wednesday stressed the importance of participating in contact tracing, saying it’s a fundamental part of Alberta Health Services’ efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

She said that until December less than one per cent of confirmed cases didn’t answer the phone or return calls from contact tracers. That number rose to 1.9 per cent of all cases in January and 1.3 per cent so far in February.

“It may be tempting to think that not providing information will make COVID go away. Unfortunately, the opposite is true,” Hinshaw said. “Trying to ignore COVID and not participating with contact tracing only pushes back the day we can ease restrictions further by giving the virus the opportunity to spread farther and faster without being stopped.”

She said that working together to support each other is critical to effectively achieve success in getting through this pandemic, adding that is as true for COVID prevention as it is for mental health promotion.

Hinshaw noted that Alberta Health Services is watching trends in positivity rates, new case counts and r-value, as well as hospitalizations, for indications the reopening plan may have to be paused or even move backward, which she called the worst-case scenario.