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One new case in city, 351 in province

Alberta sticking with provincial approach to lifting public health restrictions

Feb 11, 2021 | 4:13 PM

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says despite growing calls for a regional approach to lifting restrictions, the province will move forward in a provincial way.

“While some zones may have less cases than others, all zones continue to have a level of cases that continues to be concerning and our towns and cities are all interconnected,” she said. “We know that Albertans from home to work sometimes across long distances. We know that people shop in nearby cities even if they live in small towns and we know that that level of interconnectedness can cause rapid spread of the virus when one person is infected and it can quickly spread to others.”

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes has been among the loudest voices calling for a regional approach to easing the public health measures in place.

Asked why Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, two relatively close communities of similar size have such different case counts, Hinshaw said a number of factors could be at play.

Those include the number of tests done and the opportunity for transmission in each community.

Medicine Hat has about one-third fewer total cases and about one-tenth the active cases of Lethbridge.

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

The city now has had 537 total cases – the 14 active, 509 recovered and there have been 14 deaths.

There is one new case in the city in Thursday’s update and two new recoveries.

Across the province, there are 5,501 active cases, down 205 from Wednesday, and 120,676 recovered cases, up 540.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 127,921.

There are 351 new cases in the province today.

There are now 397 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 71 of which are in ICU, and 1,744 deaths.

The province completed 9,968 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 3.5 per cent.

As of Feb. 10, 135,575 doses of vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

AHS says more than 2,300 doses have been administered in Medicine Hat, and almost 600 in Brooks, and says that doses of vaccine are not assigned to communities.

“Instead, they are being given to Albertans in the Phase 1A groups, regardless of where they are in the province. The numbers provided reflect doses were administered at a particular site, but sometimes workers are travelling out of their community to receive vaccines,” a spokesperson says in a statement.

The province has identified 156 variant cases, none of which are in the South Zone.

Alberta is suspending its pilot project at the Calgary International Airport when new federal requirements for international travellers come into effect.

“In the coming weeks, all travellers arriving at the airport from outside of Canada will be required to undergo a COVID-19 test on entry at the border and be required to quarantine at a federally designated hotel,” Hinshaw said.

She said all international travellers will need to comply with the federal requirements on testing and quarantine.

Hinshaw said labs in Alberta are well-positioned for the new federal testing requirements thanks to the testing processes already in place through the border pilot

Since November more than 49,000 tests were conducted as part of the border pilot and many of the positive tests were in asymptomatic individuals. Positive cases from the project were also screened for COVID-19 variants, helping prevent them from spreading widely, said Hinshaw.

Under new federal rules, on Feb. 15 travellers will need to show proof of a negative PCR completed in the U.S in the previous 72 hours.

The Alberta pilot project at the Coutts border crossing will continue until a decision is made by the federal government on potential additional restrictions at land border crossings.

Hinshaw urged Albertans to mark this long weekend – the start of the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and Family Day – safely and differently.

She asked people to celebrate by staying close to home and connect with their friends, family and community in other ways.

“By not gathering together in-person with individuals outside our household, we’re not giving COVID-19 a chance to spread,” she said.

She asked Albertans planning to gather to do so outside with no more than 10 people and maintaining the proper distance.

She also reminded people that gathering indoors is still against the public health measures in place.

Hinshaw will provide another update on Tuesday.

On Monday, Hinshaw announced 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.

There are 6,093 cases in the South Zone. There are 292 active cases and 5,724 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 77.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Thursday that AHS South Zone currently has 26 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There is one at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital 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 – one active case and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 117 total cases. There are 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 — four active and 1,347 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 158 cases — one active case, 155 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 158 total cases. There are no active cases, 156 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,857 cases. There are 169 active cases, 1,673 recovered and there have been 15 deaths. Lethbridge County has 520 cases, nine active cases, 504 recovered and there have been seven deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Feb. 10, 2021.”

Read the full Feb. 11 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 114 new cases of COVID-19 in the Thursday update.

Saskatchewan has a total of 25,957 cases, 1,935 considered active. There are 23,674 recovered cases and there have been 348 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 46,263 doses of vaccine.