By Chris Brown

Two new cases in city, 277 in province

Medicine Hat up to 20 active cases of COVID-19

Feb 17, 2021 | 4:35 PM

The province’s chief medical officer of health stressed the importance of participating in contact tracing, saying it’s a fundamental part of Alberta Health Services’ efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that until December less than one per cent of confirmed cases didn’t answer the phone or return calls from contact tracers. That number rose to 1.9 per cent of all cases in January and 1.3 per cent so far in February.

“It may be tempting to think that not providing information will make COVID go away. Unfortunately, the opposite is true,” she said. “Trying to ignore COVID and not participating with contact tracing only pushes back the day we can ease restrictions further by giving the virus the opportunity to spread farther and faster without being stopped.”

She said that working together to support each other is critical to effectively achieve success in getting through this pandemic, adding that is as true for COVID prevention as it is for mental health promotion.

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She also said that after many days of declining hospitalizations they have now plateaued, and called that a reminder of the need to protect the health system.

There are 20 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Wednesday. There were 10 active cases in Medicine Hat on Feb. 4.

The city now has had 543 total cases – the 20 active, 509 recovered and there have been 14 deaths.

There are two new cases in the city today and no new recoveries.

Across the province, there are 4,857 active cases, down 136 from Tuesday, and 120,960 recovered cases, up 406.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 129,615.

There have been 225 variant cases identified in the province, four new today.

There are 277 new cases in the province today.

There are now 370 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 60 of which are in ICU, and 1,798 deaths.

The province completed 7,476 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 3.9 per cent.

As of Feb. 16, 152,056 doses of vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Hinshaw added Alberta Health Services is watching trends in positivity rates, new case counts and r-value, as well as hospitalizations, for indications the reopening plan may have to be paused or even move backward, which she called the worst-case scenario.

She said there are no specific benchmarks that will determine any pausing or moving backward on the plan.

Hinshaw will provide another update on Thursday.

An outbreak is now listed on the provincial website at the Valleyview long-term care facility in Medicine Hat. Local outbreaks were previously listed at Meadowlands and the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.

There are 6,250 cases in the South Zone. There are 338 active cases and 5,830 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 82.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 37 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are five at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge has 30 inpatients, with eight of those in the ICU. The Pincher Creek Health Centre and Cardston Health Centre have one inpatient each.

Seven Persons School has been taken off “Alert” status on the school map.

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

Cypress County has totaled 146 cases – two active cases 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 334 total cases — four active cases, 324 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 — one active and 1,350 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 158 cases — zero active cases, 156 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 161 total cases. There are three active cases, 156 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,956 cases. There are 211 active cases, 1,726 recovered and there have been 19 deaths. Lethbridge County has 531 cases, 14 active cases, 510 recovered and there have been seven deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Feb. 16, 2021.”

Read the full Feb. 17 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 26,953 cases, 1,541 considered active. There are 25,050 recovered cases and there have been 362 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 50,326 doses of vaccine.