(Feb. 4 Gov't of Alberta livestream0

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

thursday update

Red Deer records 21st death from COVID-19

Feb 4, 2021 | 4:14 PM

Alberta is reporting 582 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

Of those, only 421 were identified in the last day. Dr. Deena Hinshaw explained that yesterday, approximately 6,000 test results did not make it into the daily reporting.

Hinshaw says the error is a one-off, did not affect notification of patients and does not change yesterday’s positivity rate.

The positivity rate reported today is 3.6 per cent. With recoveries taken into account, active cases are down to 6,588 from 6,599, a difference of 11.

There are 304 schools with active alerts or outbreaks, or 13 per cent of schools in Alberta. Active cases total 763.

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There are 517 people in hospital, down 22, and 93 Albertans in ICU, down one.

Hinshaw also noted 11 new variant cases for an up-to-date total of 68. Of the 11 new cases, all are of the UK variant, and seven have no known link to travel.

“When it is your turn to receive the vaccine, I ask that you make the choice to be immunized. Whether you’re doing it to protect yourself, your family, or perhaps those you don’t even know, your immunization will save lives,” said Hinshaw. “As we await an increased and stabilized vaccine supply, I know many people have questions about how well these vaccines work on the new COVID-19 variants.”

Hinshaw said there is emerging evidence that the current vaccines are somewhat less effective on the new more infections strains from the UK and South Africa, but that they still appear to be extremely effective in fending off severe sickness if a case involves a variant.

To date, more than 112,000 Albertans have received at least one dose of vaccine, while more than 21,700 people are fully immunized (two doses).

Sadly, 13 more deaths are being reported by Alberta Health today for a total of 1,684. The new deaths include Red Deer’s 21st, which involves a male in his 60s with unknown co-morbidities. He passed on Feb. 2.

Red Deer added 17 new cases in the last day, with active cases going from 196 to 206.

Red Deer County has 20 active cases, up one, while Sylvan Lake holds steady at 33 for another day.

Lacombe County has 27 active cases, the same as Wednesday, and the city of Lacombe is up one to 16.

Ponoka County edged up to 108, an increase of three over the past 24 hours.

Clearwater County is down two to 42 active cases, while Brazeau County has four.

In Mountain View County, there are eight active cases, down two, and Olds is down one to three. Kneehill County is steady at two active cases, and County of Stettler is the same with five.

Central Zone added 51 cases in the past day. There are 645 active cases, up 14, and 38 people are in hospital, down eight. Seven people are in the ICU (all in Red Deer), up two. Two more people have died in the zone for a total of 94.

Dr. Hinshaw’s next update will be on Monday.

More information is at alberta.ca/covid19.