By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

tuesday update

COVID hospitalizations still rising, Dr. Hinshaw announces fourth doses

Jan 18, 2022 | 4:51 PM

Today’s COVID statistics are below…

With the number of COVID patients in hospital and ICU rising, the province’s chief medical officer of health warned Albertans of the effects that has on the entire health system.

There are now 1,089 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 104 of which are in ICU, and 3,412 deaths.

The province is seeing more than 1,000 people in hospital for the first time since October.

“Any COVID-positive admission has an impact on our acute care capacity,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw. “Additional care and isolation protocols need to be implemented for all COVID positive patients to prevent the risk of transmission to other patients who are at risk for severe outcomes.”

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The province’s most recent summary of new admissions, since late last week, indicates that 51 per cent of new admissions to non-ICU spaces are due to COVID infection, and 49 per cent are where the infection was not determined to be a cause of admission or where it was not possible to determine if it was.

For ICU admissions, 74 per cent are due to COVID, while 26 were in cases where it was incidental or not determined.

Hinshaw said this is a different trend than seen with previous variants and is due to the much higher transmissibility of Omicron.

She said it’s also true that someone may be admitted to hospital for another reason, but a COVID infection can complicate their stay and their clinical outcome.

“The bottom line is that our acute care system remains under serious pressure and COVID-19 continues to pose a risk of severe outcomes to many Albertans.”

Later this week, the province will begin posting online a summary of the proportion of new hospital admissions due to COVID compared to admissions due to other causes.

The province announced today that they will soon be opening up fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 800,000 Albertans most at risk for severe outcomes.

People aged 18 and older who have specific immunocompromising conditions can receive a booster five months after receiving their third dose.

Conditions include transplant recipients, individuals with chronic kidney disease on dialysis and recipients of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy. A full list is available at alberta.ca.

Eligible individuals can book appointments for fourth doses online with AHS and participating pharmacies by using the Alberta vaccine booking system or by calling 811 beginning Jan. 20.

The decision is in line with recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and the Alberta Advisory Committee on Immunization (AACI),

Beginning Jan. 20, eligible individuals can book appointments for fourth doses online with AHS and participating pharmacies by using the Alberta vaccine booking system or by calling 811.

Hinshaw said the third dose for these individuals is approximately equivalent to a third dose for others.

WATCH DR. HINSHAW’S UPDATE BELOW

PROVINCIAL NUMBERS

*Numbers are up to date as of previous day’s end. Numbers in parentheses represent a one-day change unless otherwise noted

Hospitalizations: 1,089 (+82)

ICU admissions: 104 (+10)

People in hospital (non-ICU): 985

Zero doses: 301

One dose: 49

Two doses: 386

Three doses: 249

People in ICU: 104

Zero doses: 58

One dose: 3

Two doses: 28

Three doses: 15

MORE HEALTHCARE CAPACITY DATA

—

Total cases: 455,660 (+3,279)

Total recoveries: 382,025 (+5,415)

Active caseload: 70,223 (-2,145)

Tests completed: 8,995

One-day positivity rate: 36.5%

Seven-day positivity rate: 38.22%

Active variant cases: 8,659 (-181)

Recorded Omicron cases: 21,519 (+3,739)

Deaths: 3,412 (+9)

RED DEER

*Numbers are up to date as of previous day’s end. Numbers in parentheses represent a four-day change as geographic numbers were not updated on Jan. 17

Total cases: 11,481 (+324)

Total recoveries: 10,017 (+186)

Active caseload: 1,380 (+138)

Deaths: 84 (unchanged since Dec. 7, 2021)

CENTRAL ZONE

*Numbers are up to date as of previous day’s end. Numbers in parentheses represent a one-day change unless otherwise noted

Hospitalizations: 99 (+5)

ICU admissions: 10 (–)

Active caseload: 4,357 (-52)

Deaths: 423 (–)

Death details: n/a

Elsewhere in the zone

*Numbers are up to date as of previous day’s end. Numbers in parentheses represent a four-day change as geographic numbers were not updated on Jan. 17

Red Deer County: 276 (+18)

Sylvan Lake: 119 (+8)

Lacombe County: 128 (+18)

City of Lacombe: 137 (-3)

Ponoka County: 569 (+189)
>> Maskwacis: 400 (+204)

Brazeau County: 122 (+19)

Clearwater County: 116 (+22)

Mountain View County: 125 (-1)

Olds: 109 (+2)

Kneehill County: 46 (+1)

County of Stettler: 51 (-16)

For more data from central Alberta communities, click here.

VACCINATIONS

*Numbers are up to date as of previous day’s end. Numbers in parentheses represent a one-day change unless otherwise noted

Province

Doses administered: 8,071,666

Of eligible 5+ population…

% one dose: 85.2

% two doses: 78.2

% three doses: 31.1

Of total population…

% one dose: 80.1

% two doses: 73.5

% three doses: 29.2

Red Deer

*The Government of Alberta says 100,446 people in Red Deer are eligible (5+) for vaccination, with a population of 106,420.The government has not yet begun sharing geographical data for those with booster doses.

People with one dose: 78,043 (216) >> 4-day change

% eligible pop.: 77.7

% total pop.: 73.3

People with two doses: 72,835 (+159) >> 4-day change

% eligible pop.: 72.5

% total pop.: 68.4

People with three doses: 28,336 (+1,254) >> 4-day change

% eligible pop.: 28.2

% total pop.: 26.6