(Gov't of Alberta YouTube livestream)

By Josh Hall (rdnewsNOW) and Chris Brown (CHAT News Today)

thursday update

Minor change to quarantine requirements as Alberta surpasses 500,000 confirmed COVID cases

Feb 3, 2022 | 4:18 PM

Today’s COVID data is below…

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday there are signs Alberta may be on its way out of the Omicron wave of COVID-19 and signalled a moving to an endemic approach is being considered.

“I believe that after the Omicron wave has subsided, the risk of our system becoming overwhelmed will be substantially reduced and this will enable us to shift our response,” she said.

She said this shift in thinking can be challenging, given the extraordinary circumstances over the past two years. She made clear what moving to an endemic stage means.

“COVID will not go away,” said the chief medical officer of health. “There will continue to be impacts on our acute care systems that will rise and fall with seasonality and new variants that may emerge. We can not prevent all negative outcomes from COVID and we must be ready to respond to new information.”

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She said it’s still important to find balance between the harms of COVID and the harms of measures to protect against an overwhelming surge of severe outcomes.

The change, she said, will take time and we need to continue monitoring sever impacts and any changes to the virus.

“But we cannot continue to use restrictions in the long-term once the risk of system overwhlem has passed,” said Hinshaw.

She also said data is indicating that we are likely beginning to turn a corner with this fifth wave.

Hinshaw announced too a key change to quarantine rules.

A quarantine now shifts from 14 days to 10 days for anyone who is asymptomatic, unvaccinated, and a household close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19. Hinshaw said this aligns Alberta with other jurisdictions across Canada.

In response to Dr. Hinshaw’s remarks, NDP Health Critic David Shepherd issued this statement:

“At today’s COVID-19 update, Dr. Deena Hinshaw was pushed in front of the media once again without answers, and without an elected official to answer for the Premier’s plan to roll back Alberta’s public health protections.

“Over the past few days, Jason Kenney, his ministers and the UCP caucus have presented several totally different timelines for this, and it certainly appears that they are surrendering to those who are illegally holding the border crossing hostage at Coutts.

“Albertans want answers as to why the Premier continues to move the goalposts, and Dr. Deena Hinshaw doesn’t have those answers. That is the responsibility of the Premier, and he is abandoning his duty to Albertans once again.

“The Premier must address Albertans to present the data and advice from public health officials his cabinet is using to make critical decisions on public health orders, and allow professional public health officials to express their views without political interference.”

READ MORE: Red Deer’s State of Local Emergency expiring not time to change habits: City official

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: 1,584 (-14)

ICU admissions: 112 (+6)

Deaths: 3,608 (+15)

MORE HEALTHCARE CAPACITY DATA

—

Total cases: 501,347 (+2,370)

Total recoveries: 463,860 (3,353)

Active caseload: 33,879 (-998)

*With the province limiting testing in the fifth wave, these confirmed cases do not accurately reflect the number of cases in the community.

Tests completed: 7,338

Seven-day positivity rate: 36.35% (-.03)

RED DEER

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

Total cases: 12,642 (+82)

Total recoveries: 11,632 (+72)

Active caseload: 923 (+9)

Deaths: 87 (+1) >> three deaths reported since Jan. 28 after none 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: 165 (–)

ICU admissions: 7 (-1)

Active caseload: 3,633 (+41)

Deaths: 444 (+2)

Death details:

· Date of death. 2/1/2022. A male in his 70s in Central zone. The case involved pre-existing conditions.

· Date of death. 2/2/2022. A male in his 80s in Central zone. The case involved pre-existing conditions.

Elsewhere in the zone

Red Deer County: 236 (-8)

Sylvan Lake: 101 (–)

Lacombe County: 137 (-8)

City of Lacombe: 127 (-6)

Ponoka County: 623 (-4)

Brazeau County: 128 (+3)

Clearwater County: 101 (+4)

Mountain View County: 102 (+5)

Olds: 66 (+1)

Kneehill County: 93 (-5)

County of Stettler: 81 (-2)

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: 8,335,233 (+10,049)

Of eligible 5+ population…

% one dose: 85.7

% two doses: 79.4

% three doses: 35.6

Of total population…

% one dose: 80.5

% two doses: 74.6

% three doses: 33.4

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: 78,651 (+18)

People with two doses: 73,959 (+48)

% eligible pop.: 73.6

% total pop.: 69.5

People with three doses: 32,064 (+120)

% eligible pop.: 31.9

% total pop.: 30.1

WATCH DR. HINSHAW’S UPDATE BELOW