4th wave continues to worsen as Shandro, Hinshaw address Albertans

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“An increase in staffing will mean that we can move more patients home from the hospital when they are ready. And that’s better care for the patient because the hospital’s only the right place to get care as long as you really need to be there,” he said.

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He added it’s better for the system because it frees up beds for the next patient who will need it.

Red Deer now has 492 active cases of COVID-19, up nine from Wednesday, reaching the highest total the city’s seen since May 23.

Recoveries rose 31 to 6,113, as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to Red Deer rose by 40 in the last day to 6,649.

Red Deer’s death toll stemming from COVID-19 remains 44, with the last one reported Sept. 1. There are currently 17 people in ICU at Red Deer Regional Hospital due to COVID.

Active cases across Central Zone (one-day change not available due to late reporting by AB Health on 09/08)

Red Deer County: 179

Sylvan Lake: 79

Lacombe County: 144

City of Lacombe: 68

Ponoka County: 162

Brazeau County: 102

Clearwater County: 170

Mountain View County: 128

Olds: 114

Kneehill County: 41

County of Stettler: 83

The Central Zone as a whole has 2,212 active cases as of Thursday. There are 102 hospitalizations, and 17 people are receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital. The Central Zone has had 190 deaths linked to COVID-19.

The zone’s one-day positivity rate for Sept. 8 is 17.46 per cent with 1,254 tests done. The rolling seven-day average for the zone is 11.13 per cent.

For contrast, Calgary Zone’s positivity rate for Sept. 8 was 7.23 per cent, Edmonton Zone was 11.71, North Zone was 24.40 (lowest immunization rate), and South Zone was 13.70.

PROVINCIAL NUMBERS

Today, Alberta added 1,510 new cases of COVID-19. The new cases are out of approximately 13,800 test results for a one-day positivity rate of 11 per cent. The seven-day positivity rate is 11.7 per cent.

The active caseload is now 15,977, with 12,583 of those being variants of concern.

There are 679 Albertans hospitalized due to the virus, up 32, including 154 in intensive care, up seven.

Of the 525 not in ICU, 350 are unvaccinated, 42 have had one dose, and 133 have two doses.

Of the 154 in ICU, 134 are unvaccinated, six has had one dose, and 14 have two doses.

Sadly, nine new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported in the past day, meaning the provincial death toll is now 2,436.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the spike in recent deaths province-wide reinforces how seriously we need to take the situation.

“It is to prevent serious outcomes like these that immunizations are so important,” said the chief medical officer of health.

Hinshaw added that even though some fully immunized Albertans are among those deaths vaccines are still making a profound impact.

She said no vaccine is perfect but they do offer a “high level of protection against infection and an even higher level of protection against severe outcomes.”

She said in the last four months 84 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths have been in people who were not fully immunized. She said in the past two months, no fully vaccinated Albertan under the age of 60 has died.

AHS also stated Thursday that despite rumours, emergent or urgent cancer surgeries are not being delayed. Some less-urgent cancer surgeries have been, it acknowledges.

VACCINATIONS

Alberta has delivered 5,626,056 vaccine doses as of Sept. 8.

78.8 per cent of Alberta’s eligible 12+ population has received at least one dose (67.0% total population), and 70.8 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated (60.2% total population).

In Red Deer, 63,979 (69.8% of eligible & 60.1% *total population) people have received at least one dose. Meanwhile, 57,968 (63.2%/54.5%) are fully vaccinated with two doses. (*Government of Alberta uses a population of 106,395 for Red Deer; of those 91,672 are eligible)

Thursday, the Opposition NDP renewed its call for a vaccine passport, saying that a, “simple, secure and scannable vaccine passport that would give venues the best chance to continue operating safely and without restrictions,” is one of the best viable ways out of the pandemic.

(with files from CHAT News Today)