Active cases of COVID-19 continue to drop in Medicine Hat

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 93,781.

There are 1,301 new cases in the province today.

There are now 821 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19,146 of which are in ICU, and 890 deaths.

The province completed 19,222 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 6.8 per cent.

In her last live update before the Christmas weekend, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that even though a second vaccine was approved by health Canada today the seriousness of COVID-19 remains.

“We are now well into the holiday season for many, and I want to stress yet again how important it is that we limit our in-person interaction whenever possible,” she said. “Thanksgiving get-togethers helped fuel a spike in cases that we are still fighting to reduce today. We cannot afford for that to happen now, when our baseline of new daily cases is four to five times higher now than it was then.”

Hinshaw says she and her team have been watching closely as case numbers among school-aged children have trended downward since restrictions on team sports and group performance activities were introduced in late November.

She said the trend supports that the school model in place protects against in-school transmission.

“Instead, it seems that it is mainly all the other in-person activities that children undertake that are exposing them to the virus and helping to spread COVID-19. This tells us once again that reducing social interactions is critical to protecting each other and bending the curve.”

Detailed updates will not be posted online from Dec. 24-27, the chief medical officer of health said today. Instead a summary of “high-level data” will be provided every day except Christmas through Hinshaw’s Twitter account. That data will include early estimates on the daily number of new cases, tests completed, hospitalizations, ICU numbers and positivity rates.

On Dec. 28 Hinshaw will provide another live update and the online update will provide details of the previous four days’ numbers.

On Dec. 29 and 30 the website will be updated each day, followed by a break from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3. Again there will be no website updates but preliminary data will be posted each day on Hinshaw’s Twitter account.

She said this only impacts the reporting schedule and that those who work in the lab, contact tracers, those who manage outbreaks and those who care for patients will continue working each day.

Medicine Hat remains on the provincial “Watch” list and is in enhanced status. In enhanced status, risk levels require enhanced public health measures to control the spread and are informed by local context.

Regions are placed on the province’s “Watch” list when they have a rate of more than 50 active cases per 100,000 population. Medicine Hat’s 65 active cases among 68,057 people puts it at a rate of 95.5.

Cypress County with a rate of 89.1 on 10 active cases is also on the list.

Brooks (171 rate), the County of Newell (61.8), Lethbridge (147.5) Lethbridge County (122.9) and the MD of Taber (79.5) are also on the list.

All those regions are also in enhanced status.

There are 4,837 cases in the South Zone. There are 390 active cases and 4,392 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 55.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Wednesday AHS South Zone currently has 11 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are two at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, with one of those in the ICU. Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge has eight inpatients, with one of those in the ICU. The Cardston Health Centre has one inpatient.

On Wednesday there are 294 schools in the province where outbreaks have been declared. Alberta Health’s threshold for declaring an outbreak in school is two cases being in a school while infectious within 14 days.

In Brooks, an outbreak is listed at Christ the King Academy and Holy Family Academy is on the Watch list.

The website Support Our Students is tracking instances of cases in schools across the province.

Cypress County has totaled 139 cases – 10 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 113 total cases. There is one active case, 110 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The MD of Taber has 301 total cases — 15 active cases, 280 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 35 total cases – seven active, 27 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,339 total cases — 33 active and 1,292 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 136 cases — five active cases, 129 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 142 total cases. There are five active cases, 135 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,364 cases. There are 146 active cases, 1,210 recovered and there have been eight deaths. Lethbridge County has 415 cases, 31 active cases, 381 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Dec. 22, 2020.”

Read the full Dec. 23 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 159 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, five in the South Zones.

Saskatchewan has a total of 14,101 cases, 3,850 considered active. There are 10,121 recovered cases and there have been 130 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

by Chris Brown

Active cases of COVID-19 continue to drop in Medicine Hat

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