Active COVID-19 cases continue to drop in Red Deer and across province

Another 19 deaths from COVID-19 were reported over the past 24 hours to bring Alberta’s total to 890.

In Red Deer, the number of active cases is down by 24 to 358, while recoveries are up by 48 to 944.

Across the Central Zone there are now 1,391 active cases and 79 hospitalizations, including 10 in intensive care. The number of COVID-19 deaths in the Central Zone remains 36, unchanged from Tuesday.

Red Deer County saw its active case count drop by six to sit at 78, while Sylvan Lake saw its drop by two more to sit at 20.

Clearwater County (Rocky Mountain House) saw its active case count increase by two to a total of 36.

Lacombe County has 41 active cases as of Wednesday, an increase of one. The city of Lacombe’s active case count sits at 24, also an increase of one.

Ponoka County saw its active case count drop by 19 on Wednesday to sit at 347.

Mountain View County has 33 active cases, a decrease of three, Olds has 29, an increase of one, and Kneehill County remains with 22. Starland County has no active cases. The County of Stettler is down one to 24.

In her last live update before the Christmas weekend, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that even though a second vaccine was approved by health Canada today the seriousness of COVID-19 remains.

“We are now well into the holiday season for many, and I want to stress yet again how important it is that we limit our in-person interaction whenever possible,” she said. “Thanksgiving get-togethers helped fuel a spike in cases that we are still fighting to reduce today. We cannot afford for that to happen now, when our baseline of new daily cases is four to five times higher now than it was then.”

Hinshaw says she and her team have been watching closely as case numbers among school-aged children have trended downward since restrictions on team sports and group performance activities were introduced in late November.

She said the trend supports that the school model in place protects against in-school transmission.

“Instead, it seems that it is mainly all the other in-person activities that children undertake that are exposing them to the virus and helping to spread COVID-19. This tells us once again that reducing social interactions is critical to protecting each other and bending the curve.”

Detailed updates will not be posted online from Dec. 24-27, the chief medical officer of health said today. Instead a summary of “high-level data” will be provided every day except Christmas through Hinshaw’s Twitter account. That data will include early estimates on the daily number of new cases, tests completed, hospitalizations, ICU numbers and positivity rates.

On Dec. 28 Hinshaw will provide another live update and the online update will provide details of the previous four days’ numbers.

On Dec. 29 and 30 the website will be updated each day, followed by a break from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3. Again there will be website updates but preliminary data will be posted each day on Hinshaw’s Twitter account.

She said this only impacts the reporting schedule and that those who work in the lab, contact tracers, those who manage outbreaks and those who care for patients will continue working each day.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)

by Troy Gillard

Active COVID-19 cases continue to drop in Red Deer and across province

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