By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

saturday update

Alberta adds just 621 new cases of COVID-19

May 22, 2021 | 4:20 PM

Red Deer’s active COVID-19 case count dropped again on Saturday from 523 to 519, a more modest drop than several days this past week, but a drop nonetheless.

After hitting a record high active caseload of 911 on May 8, the active caseload has dipped 43.02 per cent, as well as 37.1 per cent over the past seven days.

Recoveries sit at 4,898, an increase of 31 over the last day as the total number of cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 27 to 5,456. The number of deaths in Red Deer linked to COVID-19 is 39, the same as yesterday.

In the past week, the city has added 209 cases, 449 recoveries, and one death.

According to the province’s interactive vaccination map, 49,804 (46.8%* of) Red Deer residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, up 1,045 in the past day. The minimum one-dose total includes 8,164 (7.67%*) people who are fully vaccinated, up 188. (*based of AB Gov’t population of 106,395 for Red Deer)

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Additional provincial seven-day change figures (updated each Saturday)

Total: 223,632 (+5,811) – Previous week: +10,664

Active: 15,502 (-7,491) – Previous week: -2,162

Hospitalized: 617 (-69) – Previous week: +25

ICU: 164 (-14) – Previous week: +30

Deaths: 2,170 (+30) – Previous week: +32

CENTRAL ZONE

Active cases across Central Zone as of Saturday (one-day and seven-day change), total deaths (seven-day change)

Red Deer County: 128 (-10, -67), 8 deaths (+1)

Sylvan Lake: 91 (+1, -35), 2 deaths (–)

Lacombe County: 106 (-6, -61), 2 deaths (2 deaths)

City of Lacombe: 98 (+2 -25), 4 deaths (+1)

Ponoka County: 94 (-4, -54), 13 deaths (–)

Brazeau County: 38 (-4, -22), 0 deaths

Clearwater County: 75 (-3, +2), 4 deaths (–)

Mountain View County: 49 (-3, 26), 2 deaths (+1)

Olds: 40 (–, -31), 1 death (–)

Kneehill County: 24 (–, -12), 3 deaths (–)

County of Stettler: 46 (-5, -38), 3 deaths (–)

For more on regional active case rates, visit this page.

The Central Zone has 1,627 cases as of Saturday, a drop of 99. There are 56 hospitalizations, down six, and 10 people are receiving intensive care for COVID-19 at Red Deer Regional Hospital, down two. The zone has had 151 deaths, with none reported today.

Over the last seven days, Central Zone’s active caseload has gone down 771 from 2,398 to 1,627.

Hospitalizations have gone from 64 to 56, while the number of patients in ICU at Red Deer Regional is steady at 10, though mid-week it was higher.

Notable ongoing Central Zone outbreaks (weekly change)

1) Safe Harbour shelter: 65 cases (+2), 1 active (-2)

2) Olymel: 557 cases (+5), 5 active (-6), 3 deaths

3) Bowden Institution: 46 cases (+1), 2 active (-11), 1 death

4) Red Deer Regional Hospital: 2 cases, 2 active

5) Rimbey Hospital: 2 cases, 2 active

6) Extendicare Michener Hill: 3 cases, 2 active

7) Morskate Manufacturing (Ponoka): 10 cases, 1 active

8) Red Deer Remand Centre: 28 cases, 25 active

Central Zone school outbreak data (May 15)
*alert = 1-4 cases, outbreak = 5-9 cases, outbreak tier 2 = 10+ cases

Alberta Health summary for Red Deer:

ALERT: 11 (-1)

OUTBREAK: 6 (-1)

OUTBREAK TIER 2: 8 (–)

More data related to schools is at Alberta.ca/covid19 and SupportOurStudents.ca.

PROVINCE

Province-wide, Alberta confirmed 621 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That’s out of 9,500 test results for a positivity rate of 6.5 per cent.

Active cases in the province total 15,502, down 1,075 in the last 24 hours. Recoveries are up to 205,960, with a total of 223,632 cases confirmed in Alberta since the pandemic began.

There are 617 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, down 21 from Friday, including 164 in intensive care, down 13.

Six additional deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours to bring the province’s total to 2,170. The latest deaths include:

· Date of death: May 20, 2021. A male in his 50s in North Zone. There are no known comorbidities at this time.

· Date of death: May 20, 2021. A female in her 70s in Edmonton Zone. There are no known comorbidities at this time.

· Date of death: May 20, 2021. A male in his 70s in Edmonton Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: May 20, 2021. A male in his 50s in the South Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: May 21, 2021. A female in her 60s in the North Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: May 21, 2021. A female in her 60s in the Calgary Zone. The case included comorbidities.

Alberta has administered 2,460,857 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of May 14. 47.3 per cent of the population has received at least one dose, while 7.8 per cent is fully vaccinated. More vaccination data is here.

In the last week, Alerta has administered 347,268 doses, for a daily average of 53,466, up from the previous week’s average of 34,290.

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Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, will give her next live update after the long weekend.