Hinshaw: Restrictions still in place to protect health system

Hinshaw said it’s important to keep in mind the health-care system is a provincial one as a number of restaurants in Alberta opened for dine-in this week in clear defiance of the public health orders.

“These actions could potentially put at risk the sacrifices that we’ve made and this progress that we’ve made over the past couple of months,” she said. “Decisions that are being made to open in contravention of the orders are not in the best interest of our communities.”

She added the frontline workers whose job it is to protect our communities and to ensure that the public health orders are in place will speak with these people, reminding them why the measures are in place, of preventing the spread and of the potential penalties if people continue to choose to not follow those orders.

There are 21 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Wednesday.

The city now has had 524 total cases – the 21 active, 490 recovered and there have been 13 deaths.

There are no new cases in the city in Wednesday’s update and two new recoveries.

Across the province, there are 8,203 active cases, down 449 from Tuesday, and 112,558 recovered cases, up 896.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 122,360.

There are 459 new cases in the province today.

There are now 604 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 110 of which are in ICU, and 1,599 deaths.

The province completed 12,856 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 3.6 per cent.

As of Jan. 26, 101,123 doses of vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

The health-care system remains under strain despite hospitalizations dropping since Dec. 30 from 943 to 604 and ICU admissions from 155 to 110, Hinshaw said.

“There are just as many people in hospital today as there were on Dec. 4, when our acute care system was struggling under the impact of COVID-19,” said the chief medical officer of health.

She explained the number of patients in COVID beds and the precautions that must be taken to prevent the spread of the virus in hospital creates a trickle-down effect. She said it means fewer beds available for people who suffer heart attacks, strokes or other ailments, which could mean more time in emergency rooms, leading them to fill up faster and further backing up the system and leaving people in waiting rooms.

That all leads to fewer doctors or nurses available for frontline care and to postponing non-urgent surgeries.

Hinshaw’s next in-person update will be on Thursday.

Medicine Hat and the entire province remains in enhanced status, in which risk levels require enhanced public health measures to control the spread and are informed by local context.

Medicine Hat should however be off the provincial “Watch” list.

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 21 active cases among 68,057 people puts it at a rate of 30.8.

Brooks, the MD of Taber, Cypress County and the County of Forty Mile are no longer on the “Watch” list.

The County of Newell (137.5), Lethbridge (117.2) and Lethbridge County (120.7) are on the list.

There are 5,751 cases in the South Zone. There are 355 active cases and 5,325 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 71.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 30 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are six at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, with three of those in the ICU. Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge has 21 inpatients, with six of those in the ICU. The Cardston Health Centre has two inpatients, and the Pincher Creek Health Centre has one.

Seven Persons School is on “Alert” status, with two positive cases. One was confirmed on Jan. 17 and one on Jan. 15. Students and staff have been identified as close contacts and placed into quarantine.

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

Cypress County has totaled 145 cases – two active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 117 total cases. There is one active case, 114 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The MD of Taber has 328 total cases — five active cases, 317 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 40 total cases – two active, 37 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,361 total cases — four active and 1,343 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 157 cases — 11 active cases, 144 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 158 total cases. There are seven active cases, 149 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,655 cases. There are 118 active cases, 1,525 recovered and there have been 12 deaths. Lethbridge County has 509 cases, 31 active cases, 471 recovered and there have been seven deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Jan. 26, 2021.”

Read the full Jan. 27 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 149 new cases of COVID-19 in the Wednesday update.

Saskatchewan has a total of 22,794 cases, 2,527 considered active. There are 19,993 recovered cases and there have been 277 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 34,615 doses of vaccine.

by Chris Brown

Hinshaw: Restrictions still in place to protect health system

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