Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, says the province is starting to catch up on the COVID-19 contact tracing backlog. (Photo: Government of Alberta livestream)

By Troy Gillard

TUESDAY UPDATE

Red Deer sees two more COVID-19 deaths, active cases down to 225

Jan 12, 2021 | 3:49 PM

Alberta reported another 652 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

That’s out of 9,336 test results over the past 24 hours for a positivity rate of 6.8 per cent.

There are now 13,220 active cases in Alberta, down 697 from Monday. The province recorded another 1,311 recoveries on Tuesday to bring Alberta’s total to 98,178.

The number of Albertans hospitalized due to COVID-19 sits at 819, an increase of eight. That includes 132 people in intensive care, two more than Monday.

A record 38 deaths from COVID-19 were reported Tuesday to bring Alberta’s total to 1,345.

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In Red Deer, the number of active cases as of Tuesday sits at 225 a decrease of 15. There have been 1,397 recoveries, an increase of 18 as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to the city rose by just five to 1,634.

Sadly, two more COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Red Deer to bring the city’s total to 12.

Red Deer County has 49 active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, down two, while Sylvan Lake has 31, a decrease of six.

There are 73 active cases in Clearwater County (Rocky Mountain House), an increase of two.

Lacombe County has 30 active cases, down one, and the city of Lacombe has 34, down three.

Ponoka County saw its active case count go from 485 on Sunday to 454 on Monday, a decrease of 31.

Mountain View County has 22 active cases, down four, Olds has 29, down three, and Kneehill County remains with 12. Stettler and County held steady with has six active cases.

The Central Zone as a whole has 1,394 active cases as of Tuesday with 84 hospitalizations, including 16 who remain in intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

Five new deaths were reported in the Central Zone on Tuesday, bringing the total to 62. Each of the latest reported deaths in the zone had comorbidities, according to Alberta Health, and include:

· Jan. 8. A male in his 80s

· Jan. 9. A male in his 50s

· Jan. 9. A female in her 90s

· Jan. 10. A male in his 80s

· Jan. 11. A male in his 80s linked to the outbreak at Seasons Camrose.

Meantime, the province’s chief medical officer of health says Alberta is catching up on contact tracing after a massive backlog when a spike in COVID-19 cases overwhelmed tracers in November.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says with more contact tracers and fewer cases, the number of active cases from an unknown source down to about 47 per cent from close to 80 per cent from Dec. 10-15.

“We are now able to reach out within 24 hours to all high-priority cases of COVID 19 including those including school-age children, health-care workers, long-term care workers and those who are involved in critical response,” Hinshaw said Tuesday.

She noted Alberta Health Services continues to prioritize contact tracing for other cases involving minors and for those living and working in continuing care or other congregate facilities.

Hinshaw also noted that even with a fully functioning system there are always “a portion of cases usually around 30 per cent, where the source of exposure can’t be identified.”

The number of daily tests has been below 10,000 for the past two days, something Hinshaw was unable to explain but said that they are investigating it.

She said testing policies and eligibility have not changed and she encouraged any Albertans who have a reason to be tested do so.

(With file from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)