By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

WEDNESDAY UPDATE

COVID hospitalizations continue decline as booster eligibility expands

Dec 1, 2021 | 4:27 PM

As Alberta announces it is expanding third dose eligibility, it’s also reporting 430 new cases of COVID-19 today.

Combined with recoveries, that means there are now 4,619 active cases, up 74. That includes two new cases of the Omicron variant, for a total now of three in the province. Dr. Deena Hinshaw said all of them are recovering at home and experiencing mild symptoms.

The province did 10,756 tests in the last day, with a seven-day positivity rate of 4.30 per cent, down from 5.03 per cent a week ago.

There have been 3,255 COVID-linked deaths since the pandemic began, including seven in the last day.

SCHOOL STATUS DATA

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Hospitalizations

There are 424 people in hospital, down 10 in one day, while ICU admissions are down two to 79.

Of the 345 not in ICU, 213 are unvaccinated, 20 have had one dose, and 90 have had two doses. An additional 22 have had a booster dose.

Of the 79 in ICU, 62 are unvaccinated, three have had one dose, and 13 have had two doses. An additional one has had a booster dose.

R values

New R value numbers were released this week.

An R value above 1.0 means transmission rate is increasing, while a value of 1.0 means an infected person will infect one other person. Below 1.0 means transmission rate is decreasing.

Nov. 15-28

Alberta: 0.88 (-.04)
Edmonton Zone: 0.95 (+.03)
Calgary Zone: 0.90 (-.10)
Rest of Alberta: 0.80 (-.07)

For the period of Nov. 1-14: province-wide, the R value was 0.92. In Edmonton Zone, it was 0.92, in Calgary Zone, the value was 1.00, and the rest of Alberta sat at 0.87.

For the period of Oct. 25-31, province-wide, the R value was 0.87. In Edmonton Zone, it was 0.90, the value for Calgary Zone was 0.91, and the rest of Alberta sat at 0.84.

For the period of Oct. 11-17, province-wide, the R value was 0.85. In Edmonton Zone, it was also 0.85, Calgary Zone’s was 0.80, and the rest of Alberta was 0.84.

For the period of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, Alberta’s average R value was 0.92. In Edmonton Zone, the rate was 0.86, Calgary Zone was 0.93, and the rest of Alberta was 0.94.

For the period of Sept. 13-19, Alberta’s value was 1.04, Edmonton was at 0.97, Calgary at 0.94, and the rest of Alberta at 1.15.

For the period of Aug. 16-22, Alberta’s value was 1.19, Edmonton was 1.32, Calgary was 1.05, and the rest of the province was at 1.22.

R value numbers are updated by Alberta Health every two weeks.

CENTRAL ZONE

Red Deer now has 111 active cases of COVID-19, up one from Tuesday.

Meantime, recoveries in Red Deer rose six to 9,211 as the total number of COVID-19 cases attributed to Red Deer rose seven to 9,405.

Red Deer’s death toll stemming from COVID-19 is 83, with the last one reported Nov. Nov. 26.

The Central Zone as a whole has 593 active cases as of Wednesday, up two in the last day. That’s compared to 1,791 in Calgary Zone and 1,146 in Edmonton Zone. South Zone has 333 and North Zone has 749.

There are 82 hospitalizations in our zone, down five, and six people are receiving intensive care at Red Deer Regional Hospital, the same as yesterday.

Central Zone has recorded 400 deaths, including one in the last day — a male in his 70s who passed away Nov. 28.

Active cases across Central Zone (one-day change)

Red Deer County: 41 (-2)

Sylvan Lake: 14 (-2)

Lacombe County: 17 (–)

Lacombe: 24 (+2)

Ponoka County: 49 (+6)

Brazeau County: 25 (–)

Clearwater County: 31 (-5)

Mountain View County: 25 (-1)

Olds: 19 (-2)

Kneehill County: 16 (-1)

County of Stettler: 23 (+1)

For more data from central Alberta communities, click here.

VACCINATIONS

Alberta has delivered 6,910,936 vaccine doses as of Nov. 30, up 20,145 in the last day. That includes 33,503 kids ages 5-11.

88.8 per cent of Alberta’s eligible 12+ population has received at least one dose (76.3% total population), and 84.1 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated (71.5% total population).

A total of 378,507 booster (third) shots have been administered, up 5,025.

In Red Deer, 74,743 (70.3 of *total population) people have received at least one dose, up 29. Meanwhile, 70,716 (66.5%) are fully vaccinated with two doses, up 72. (*Government of Alberta uses a population of 106,395 for Red Deer)

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