Hinshaw: Summer may offer relief, but collective effort needed to keep COVID-19 at bay

“Albertans have pulled together to support one another and that support remains as essential as ever. We are in this together and we’ll get through this together.”

Hinshaw also reported that there were 4,017 new test results confirmed in the last 24 hours, with 33 coming back positive. She noted that it is not necessary to test “many, many” asymptomatic people in order to get out of the pandemic.

There are still 59 people in hospital, including six in the ICU.

“We continue to see a downward trend across the province in active cases. A large part of this is thanks to you and the sacrifices you have made and continue to make,” Hinshaw stated, directly addressing the hardship many Albertans have felt throughout the lockdown.

“We did not make these decisions lightly. They were made to save lives, and thanks to you, we are saving lives.”

Stressing responsible action, Hinshaw added, “Progress on our relaunch plan continues to depend on our collective ability to keep rates low.”

Hinshaw acknowledged frustrations about the slower reopenings in Calgary and Brooks.

“Reopening gradually allows us to monitor any increase in spread from open retail, daycares and other activities in Calgary and Brooks where the baseline rate was higher last week,” she said. “At this point we are not seeing a concerning increase in numbers in Calgary or Brooks and overall our cases are stable.”

There are now just five active cases at the Cargill meat processing plant in High River, and 10 at JBS in Brooks. Those locations have more than 900 and 600 recoveries, respectively.

She continued: “One of the things we also need to remember is that in the past, we’ve seen respiratory viruses decline over the summer. While we don’t know for sure that will be something that helps us with COVID, it’s reasonable to think we might get a little bit of a break over the summer as we are outside more, and knowing that [we have] the ability to stay two metres apart.

“It’s really important for people to not get lulled into a false sense of security and feel like COVID or the pandemic is over, even if we are able to control it over the summer,” Hinshaw urged.

“Moving into the fall, we always see a spike, for example, in influenza and other viruses. I’m not sure additional enforcement is needed at this time, but it’s [going to take] a collective effort. That will protect us not just over the next few weeks, but into the fall.”

Central Zone numbers at a glace

Red Deer: 37 cases (2 active, 35 recovered)

Red Deer County: 16 cases (1 active, 15 recovered)

Sylvan Lake: 3 cases (3 recovered)

Clearwater County: 2 cases (2 recovered)

Rocky Mountain House: 1 case (1 recovered)

Lacombe County: 3 cases (3 recovered)

Lacombe: 2 cases (2 recovered)

Ponoka County: 3 cases (1 active, 2 recovered)

County of Stettler: 2 cases (2 recovered)

Mountain View County: 9 cases (2 active, 7 recovered)

Total: 99 cases (5 active)

Numbers (by health zone)

Calgary: 744 active, 3,853 recovered

Edmonton: 61 active, 451 recovered

South: 97 active, 1,111 recovered

North: 16 active, 199 recovered

Central: 5 active, 93 recovered

Unknown: 3 active, 21 recovered

Total: 926 active, 5,710 recovered, 6,768 total

More information is at Alberta.ca/covid19.

(With file from Chris Brown/CHAT News Today)

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Hinshaw: Summer may offer relief, but collective effort needed to keep COVID-19 at bay

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