By Chris Brown

14 active cases in city, 6,196 in provin

Hinshaw hints at regional approach to lifting restrictions

Feb 8, 2021 | 4:10 PM

On the first day of Alberta’s Step 1 to easing restrictions across the province, Dr. Deena Hinshaw says they are watching how the moves impact different parts of the province and signalled a more regional approach is on the table.

“We are looking at trends both provincially and regionally to assess the impacts of the steps being taken and to monitor for any change in trends,” she said. “We will explore more targeted action if needed, either easing or tightening of measures at the health zone level should circumstances warrant this in the future.”

As part of that, the province has eliminated the colour-coded regional status map and removed the regional classifications of “Enhanced,” “Watch” and “Open.”

Active case numbers and active cases rates remain on the page.

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The chief medical officer of health says cases continue to trend down throughout the province, evidenced by the r-value of 0.87.

An r-value, or reproductive value of one shows that each person with the virus is, on average, infecting one other person.

Declining hospitalization numbers were also highlighted as a positive by Hinshaw.

There are 14 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Monday.

The city now has had 534 total cases – the 14 active, 506 recovered and there have been 14 deaths.

There are two new cases in the city in Monday’s update and one new recovery.

Across the province, there are 6,196 active cases, down 46 from Sunday, and 119,130 recovered cases, up 314.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 127,036.

There are 269 new cases in the province today.

There are now 432 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 76 of which are in ICU, and 1,710 deaths.

The province completed 6,184 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 4.3 per cent.

As of Feb. 7, 120,357 doses of vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Over the weekend, 25 additional cases of COVID-19 variants have been identified, for a total of 96 B-117 cases. Of those, 46 are not linked to travel.

She said there has been no spread identified in schools and the province continues to test widely.

Hinshaw said the surprise decision on Feb. 6 to add limited group physical activity for young people was made after data showed school-age new daily cases trending downwards after resuming in-person learning last month and based on lower transmission rates in young people.

She also said the role physical activity plays in children’s wellbeing and mental health played a part in the decision.

Health measures to reduce the risk of transmission such are physical distancing, masking and limits on who can participate remain.

For children’s sports and everyone in the province as Step 1 begins, Hinshaw said “it’s vital that every public health measure be followed at all times. This is the only way to protect the public health of everyone involved.”

Hinshaw said it’s unfortunate the direction came as late as it did, considering some communities removed ice and organizations returned fees after cancelling sports seasons prior to the change.

She said it’s too soon to talk about moving to Step 2 and that a minimum of three weeks exists between steps to monitor hospitalizations, positivity rate, new case numbers and overall growth rate along the way.

The government says a decision on Step 2 will be made if, on Feb. 28, there are 450 or fewer hospitalizations and the number is declining. The same re-evaluation period will be used for all subsequent steps.

Hinshaw will provide another update on Tuesday.

There are 6,028 cases in the South Zone. There are 319 active cases and 5,635 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 74.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 27 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 24 inpatients, with nine of those in the ICU. The Pincher Creek Health Centre has one inpatient.

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 no active cases, 115 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The MD of Taber has 332 total cases — four active cases, 322 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 40 total cases – one active, 38 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,365 total cases — five active and 1,346 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 158 cases — two active cases, 154 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 158 total cases. There are six active cases, 150 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,812 cases. There are 177 active cases, 1,622 recovered and there have been 13 deaths. Lethbridge County has 518 cases, 11 active cases, 500 recovered and there have been seven deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Feb. 7, 2021.”

Read the full Feb. 8 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 629 new cases of COVID-19 since the Friday update.

Saskatchewan has a total of 25,574 cases, 2,204 considered active. There are 23,029 recovered cases and there have been 341 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 42,987 doses of vaccine.