(Gov't of Alberta livestream)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

THURSDAY UPDATE

Red Deer active cases up after two days of declines, Alberta surpasses 2,500 deaths

Sep 16, 2021 | 4:21 PM

*STATS BELOW

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Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu said 75 per cent of people in Alberta ICU beds are fighting COVID-19 and pressure on the health system continues to be severe.

ICU capacity in the province is at 86 per cent with the 137 surge beds. Without them, capacity would be at more than 155 per cent.

“This fourth wave has resulted in the sharpest increase in ICU patients that we have seen throughout the pandemic,” said Yiu.

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“Health care is a finite resource. We do not have the ability to simply open more and more ICU spaces and hospital beds and we do not have an endless number of staff who can provide critical care.”

She said there’s no question ICUs are under extreme pressure and they are continuing to find way to increase capacity in the highest level of surge response.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said she’ll give two live updates weekly. She said this is due to the crisis Alberta is in with the fourth wave of COVID-19.

Following the announcement of more public health measures in Alberta on Wednesday evening, Hinshaw tried to answer some questions that have already come up, including around the business exemption program and if businesses need to apply.

“The answer is no. Businesses simply need to consult the material we will be posting tomorrow on our website and implement the process described there in order to qualify,” explained the chief medical officer of health.

She added enforcements and audits will occur.

Not following the restrictions and not implement a proof of vaccination system would be violating public health orders. She said those orders are mandatory and legally enforceable.

She said anyone seeking a negative test result to access a business “must get this test privately. AHS testing is for those with symptoms, those in outbreaks and those who need it the most.”

She also offered that, “instead of paying for a test, you can get vaccinated for free.”

Hinshaw said limiting indoor gatherings even among fully vaccinated people is a precaution to save the health-care system against breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated people. Breakthrough cases make up about 20 per of current hospitalizations.

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Red Deer now has 594 active cases of COVID-19, up 48 from Wednesday.

The city’s active caseload stalled at 597 on Sept. 13 and declined the last two days before going back up today.

Meantime, recoveries rose 36 to 6,348, as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 84 in the last day to 6,990.

Red Deer’s death toll stemming from COVID-19 remains 48, with three reported Sept. 15. There are currently 21 people in ICU at Red Deer Regional Hospital due to COVID.

Active cases across Central Zone (one-day change)

Red Deer County: 237 (+11)

Sylvan Lake: 105 (+13)

Lacombe County: 150 (+6)

City of Lacombe: 98 (+5)

Ponoka County: 211 (+3)

Brazeau County: 178 (–)

Clearwater County: 216 (+6)

Mountain View County: 153 (+2)

Olds: 99 (-6)

Kneehill County: 55 (+7)

County of Stettler: 83 (+5)

The Central Zone as a whole has 2,758 active cases as of Thursday, up 138. There are 147 hospitalizations, up six, and 21 people are receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital, the same as yesterday. The Central Zone has had 202 deaths linked to COVID-19, with one reported today.

The zone’s one-day positivity rate for Sept. 15 is 16.00 per cent with 1,969 tests done. The rolling seven-day average for the zone is 16.03 per cent, up from 11.13 per cent one week ago.

PROVINCIAL NUMBERS

Today, Alberta added 1,718 new cases of COVID-19. The new cases are out of approximately 16,364 test results for a one-day positivity rate of 10.6 per cent. The seven-day positivity rate is 11.5 per cent.

The active caseload is now 18,706, with 11,236 of those being variants of concern.

Of the active cases, 109 are in kids under 1 y/o, 710 are 1-4 y/o, 1,370 are 5-9 y/o, 2,704 are 10-19 y/o, and 3,294 are 20-29 y/o. There are 3,549 cases in people 30-39 y/o, the highest of any age group.

There are 2,671 in people aged 40-49, 1,812 in those 50-59, 1,261 in those 60-69, 680 in people 70-79, and 540 in those 80+.

There are 896 Albertans hospitalized due to the virus, up 19, including 222 in intensive care, up four.

Of the 674 not in ICU, 443 (65.7%) are unvaccinated, 45 have had one dose, and 186 have two doses.

Of the 222 in ICU, 199 (89.6%) are unvaccinated, five have had one dose, and 18 have had two doses.

Sadly, 10 new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported in the past day, meaning the provincial death toll is now 2,505.

VACCINATIONS

Alberta has delivered 5,685,024 vaccine doses as of Sept. 15 up 10,292.

79.6 per cent of Alberta’s eligible 12+ population has received at least one dose (67.7% total population), and 71.5 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated (60.8% total population).

In Red Deer, 64,894 (70.8% of eligible & 61,0% *total population) people have received at least one dose, up 153. Meanwhile, 58,682 (64.0%/55.2%) are fully vaccinated with two doses, up 131 (*Government of Alberta uses a population of 106,395 for Red Deer; of those 91,672 are eligible)

WATCH THURSDAY’S LIVE UPDATE FROM DR. HINSHAW IN ITS ENTIRETY BELOW: