Shandro: No easing of any restrictions at this time

Hospitalizations and active COVID-19 cases and have been rising across the province recently.

Hospitalizations have risen from 255 to 280 in the past week, while active cases have risen from 4,697 on March 14 to 5,971 on March 21. Daily new cases have regularly been above 500.

Shandro said he knows the decision to not move forward is a disappointment for many but is prudent and essential.

He said with hospitalizations likely to again be more than 300 in the coming days, “it would be irresponsible and unfair to Albertans to ease measures now only to reinstate them a few days later.”

He added the Path Forward is about making good decisions based on the evidence.

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

The city now has had 570 total cases – the nine active, 544 recovered and there have been 17 deaths.

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

Across the province, there are 6,176 active cases, up 205 from Sunday, and 134,246 recovered cases, up 246.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 142,390.

There have been 1,711 variant cases ID’d in the province, 110 new today. There are 61 in the South Zone.

There are 456 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 280 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 48 of which are in ICU, and 1,968 deaths.

The province completed 7,457 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 6.1 per cent.

Alberta has delivered 487,493 doses of vaccine.

The health minister again laid the blame for low rates of vaccine delivery at the feet of the federal government.

“Had Ottawa procured vaccine on the same level of the United States or many other countries we would have seen Albertans being immunized two or even three times as many people right now as we are seeing,” he said. “And we would be open and getting ready to ease things even further.”

Shandro said the r-value (the rate of reproduction) is rising province-wide. It is 1.05 for Alberta outside of Calgary and Edmonton, where it is 1.23 and 1.13, respectively.

He also expressed worry about the variants of concern, which now account for about 16 per cent of active cases. That’s up from about 10 per cent a couple of weeks ago, said Shandro.

As well, he did rule out further restrictions being imposed if numbers continue to rise.

In that case the government would try to develop targeted measures for areas where transmission is happening.

He said that could be a geographic approach or imposing select restrictions from each step.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said it is important that all Albertans understand the powers that their actions have, and how crucial it is that everyone make choices that protect our communities over the coming weeks.

She encouraged people to follow the letter of the law and public health measures and the spirit of them as well.

“Now is not the time to abandon tried and true practices that have protected our communities and our health-care system over the past year,” she said. “For those who would say that even 300 cases is just a fraction of our acute care capacity, I would remind us all of our experience in November when cases and hospitalizations began to grow sharply.”

Back then, she said, every two weeks from mid-November to the end of December the number of people needing hospitalization grew by 200-250 people.

The chief medical officer of health said “the reality is that once we hit a growth phase from this virus our numbers will not stand still.”

Hinshaw’s next update will be on Wednesday.

An outbreak is listed on the provincial website at the Valleyview long-term care facility in Medicine Hat. The outbreak was opened on Feb. 12. It’s the only local outbreak currently listed.

There are 7,336 cases in the South Zone. There are 675 active cases and 6,530 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 102.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 39 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 34 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with eight of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has three inpatients, with none in the ICU. The Cardston Health Centre has two inpatients.

There are no local schools on either “Alert” or “Outbreak” status on the provincial reporting site.

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

Cypress County has totaled 146 cases – one active case and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 123 total cases. There are five active cases, 115 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 355 total cases — 13 active cases, 336 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 60 total cases – 19 active cases, 40 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,366 total cases — four active cases and 1,348 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 160 cases — no active cases, 158 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 178 total cases. There are 16 active cases, 159 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 2,849 cases. There are 524 active cases, 2,296 recovered and there have been 29 deaths. Lethbridge County has 607 cases, 56 active cases, 543 recovered and there have been eight deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day March 21, 2021.”

Read the full March 22 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 31,842 cases, 1,476 considered active. There are 29,948 recovered cases and there have been 418 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 144,171 doses of vaccine.

by Chris Brown

Shandro: No easing of any restrictions at this time

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