By Chris Brown

two new cases in city, 764 in province

Hinshaw: Keep your COVID-19 guard up, even at home

Mar 25, 2021 | 4:32 PM

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says Albertans need to be aware of the choices they make everywhere, especially at home, as the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its 13th month.

“The number one riskiest activity is living in a household with someone that is infectious. Forty per cent of our cases are spread at home,” Hinshaw says. “While home is the place that we feel we can let our guard down, if somebody in a household starts to feel symptomatic, if somebody in a household has been exposed to a case of COVID-19 there are things that we can do in our household to prevent spread the within that group.”

She encouraged people to stay away from the infectious individual in the house, or for that person to stay in an isolation hotel, which are free of charge.

Nearly half of all new cases are traced to the home, says Hinshaw.

“As we’re looking at the other activities outside of the household no other activity that even comes close to that proportion of our new cases,” she said. “But what we are seeing is no matter what setting people are in … where they’re letting their guard down, they’re not following public health measures, we’re seeing spread across multiple settings and that is the biggest problem that we collectively have in our power to change.

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Hinshaw says more than one year into the pandemic we all know what we need to do to slow the spread of the virus.

“We can’t give up now. We’ve made it too far and we are too close to getting through this,” says Alberta’s chief medical officer or health.

“Each of us needs to look at ways that we can slow or reverse the growth. This means being extra cautious and making the safe choice tonight, tomorrow and in the weeks ahead.”

There are 10 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Thursday.

The city now has had 573 total cases – the 10 active, 546 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 6,835 active cases, up 301 from Wednesday, and 135,500 recovered cases, up 460.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 144,311.

There have been 2,301 variant cases ID’d in the province, 191 new today. There are 118 in the South Zone.

There are 764 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 294 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 55 of which are in ICU, and 1,976 deaths.

The province completed 14,062 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 5.4 per cent.

Alberta has delivered 532,171 doses of vaccine.

Hinshaw’s next update will be on Tuesday afternoon

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 7,729 cases in the South Zone. There are 790 active cases and 6,834 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 105.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Thursday that AHS South Zone currently has 39 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 32 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with seven of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has five inpatients, with two 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 147 cases – one active case and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 124 total cases. There are five active cases, 116 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 366 total cases — 24 active cases, 336 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 61 total cases – 16 active cases, 44 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,368 total cases — four active cases and 1,350 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 162 cases — two active cases, 158 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 178 total cases. There are 12 active cases, 163 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 2,951 cases. There are 510 active cases, 2,411 recovered and there have been 29 deaths. Lethbridge County has 649 cases, 91 active cases, 550 recovered and there have been eight deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day March 24, 2021.”

Read the full March 25 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 32,346 cases, 1,623 considered active. There are 30,301 recovered cases and there have been 422 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 155,754 doses of vaccine.