Red Deer down to 185 active COVID-19 cases

There are 556 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, same as Monday, including 97 in intensive care, down five.

Another 13 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, while two previously reported deaths have been determined post-mortem to not have COVID-19 as a contributing cause, resulting in a net increase of 11 that brings Alberta’s total from COVID-19 to 1,660.

Through the end of Monday, Alberta has administered 107,438 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. More than 17,000 Albertans have now received two doses and are fully inoculated.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Red Deer as of Tuesday sits at 185, down five from Monday. There have been 1,690 recoveries, an increase of 12 as the total number of cases attributed to Red Deer rose by seven to a total of 1,894. The number of deaths in Red Deer related to COVID-19 remains 19.

Red Deer County has 19 active cases as of Tuesday, a decrease of one, while Sylvan Lake has 33, up three from Monday.

Lacombe County has 29 active cases, a decrease of two, and the city of Lacombe has 15, a decrease of three.

Clearwater County (Rocky Mountain House) has 54 active cases as of Tuesday, a decrease of seven.

The active case count in Ponoka County sits at 107, down 31 over the past 24 hours.

Mountain View County remains with 11 active cases, Olds held steady with five and Kneehill County still has three. Stettler and County remain with six active cases.

The Central Zone has 655 active cases as of Tuesday, a decrease of 54, with 49 hospitalizations, which is an increase of three. Six people are receiving intensive care for COVID-19 at Red Deer Regional Hospital, unchanged from Sunday.

The Central Zone has had 89 deaths as a result of COVID-19, two of which were reported in the past 24 hours – a woman in her 60s in on Jan. 11 (case included comorbidities) and a woman in her 80s on Feb. 1 linked to the outbreak at Seasons Camrose (case included comorbidities).

In her daily update on Tuesday, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said the province is making progress in the fight against COVID-19, but the rising number of variant cases is a concern.

“The potential for rising cases, including the spread of variants, is one of the things we will be watching closely for in the days ahead,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said. “New trends and positivity rates will help determine if we need to pause further actions or potentially increase restrictions in the future.”

Hinshaw says the main reason they are concerned about the variants is they spread more easily from person to person.

“Which is why we must be cautious,” she explained. “These variants spread in the same way as the strain that is currently dominant in Alberta, just more efficiently.”

Hinshaw said that of the province’s 57 variant cases, eight of them in five different households have no links to travel. She said officials have linked four of the variant cases to an outbreak at a daycare facility. Another 28 cases have been identified through border testing.

Hinshaw admitted this is concerning, but noted “it does mean we have a better chance of controlling spread when we understand the links between cases.”

Currently, 305 schools in the province, about 16 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 726 cases in total. Outbreaks are declared in 26 schools, with a total of 217 cases. In-school transmission has likely occurred in 68 schools. Of these, 53 have had only one new case occur as a result.

In Red Deer, one school (Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School) is on alert as of Monday with two to four cases, while one school (St. Joseph High School) is on outbreak due to 10 or more cases.

by Troy Gillard

Red Deer down to 185 active COVID-19 cases

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