Medicine Hat tops 150 active COVID-19 cases

“There is no one source or sector that is driving this spread that we’re seeing. Instead, the virus is spreading through all of us and the many in-person get-togethers, meet-ups and other interactions that we have with other people every day,” says Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

“That is why public health measures are in place for a wide range of sectors and why we all must continue to limit in-person interactions as much as possible.”

But the province’s top doctor highlighted a positive statistic.

The reproductive rate across the province has dropped from 1.09 last week to 1.04 this week.

“It’s good to see growth rates have declined … but our numbers are still very high and it’s important to underline that cases are still growing,” says Hinshaw. “Simply put we are now heading in the wrong direction.”

In announcing seven new deaths in the province due to COVID-19, Hinshaw said the worst outcome possible.

“Throughout the pandemic, it has been important that we ensure these numbers that we report represent those who died from COVID-19, not who died of another cause but happened to have COVID-19,” said Hinshaw.

She said the process involves including deaths in initial counts where COVID-19 being flagged as a possible cause even if it remains unknown. She says those are reviewed post-mortem to determine if the virus was indeed a contributing cause.

“Most often these remain classified as a COVID death. However, sometimes the review identifies that there was a different cause of death,” says Hinshaw.

“Our most recent review of past reported cases has found 14 previously reported deaths that were not deemed on file review to have COVID-19 as a contributing cause. As a result, they’re being removed from the provincial total.”

The new number is reflected in today’s update.

There are 154 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat now has had 835 total cases – the 154 active, 664 recovered and there have been 17 deaths.

There are 19 new cases in the city and six new recoveries in the city today.

Across Alberta, there are 20,721 active cases, up 111 from Monday, and 162,052 recovered cases, up 1,435.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 184,840.

There have been 20,271 variant cases ID’d in the province, 812 new today. There are 1,332 in the South Zone.

13,091 active cases (63.2 per cent of total) have been identified as variants of concern.

There are 1,539 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 635 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 143 of which are in ICU, and 2,067 deaths.

The province completed 13,743 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 11.4 per cent.

Alberta has administered 1,468,785 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Hinshaw’s next update will be later this week.

With spiking cases in areas across Alberta the province is making a change to testing to reduce wait times.

A second test will no longer be offered to close contacts if they have no symptoms, says Hinshaw.

“Starting today, close contacts will be offered testing as soon as they are identified. If they experience symptoms at any point after that test they can get tested again. Otherwise, they must remain in quarantine until 14 days have passed and as of today are no longer requested to have a second test.”

People with a second test booked and no symptoms can cancel their test to free capacity in the system. Keep your test if you have one booked and have symptoms, says Hinshaw.

“Testing remains a critical part of breaking the chain of transmission,” she says.

There are 10,070 cases in the South Zone. There are 992 active cases and 8,963 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 115.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 36 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 27 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with nine of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has eight inpatients, with two of those in the ICU. The Brooks Health Centre has one inpatient.

St. Michael’s School remains on AHS Outbreak status after reporting five cases in late March.

On Friday, the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education announced Notre Dame Academy will transition to online learning from April 26-May 7. Four cases were identified at the school last week and more than a dozen teachers are quarantining. The school is also on AHS Outbreak status.

One case was also identified last week at St. Francis Xavier School and at Ecole St. John Paul II School, says the division.

AHS lists St. Mary’s School on Alert status.

The Medicine Hat Christian School remains on Alert status by Alberta Health Services after a second person at the school tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat Public School Division has announced cases at three schools last week. Additional cases were identified at Crescent Heights High School and River Heights Elementary School late on Wednesday.

A second positive case was reported at Alexandra Middle School Tuesday, following the first positive case last Thursday. Crescent Heights and River Heights are on Alert status.

Prairie Rose Public Schools announced a confirmed case connected to Bow Island Elementary School on April 19, adding to a growing list of Prairie Rose schools with cases.

Three positive cases of COVID-19 were connected to Irvine School two weekends ago. These cases are in addition to one case connected to Irvine School on the previous weekend.

There are also positive COVID-19 cases Seven Persons School in Cypress County. It is on AHS Alert status

Ecole Connaught School has confirmed two variant cases. The first case was identified on March 31, the second on April 3.

Sixty-nine students from Eagle Butte High School were in quarantine after a positive case was confirmed at the school three weeks ago. The individual was later confirmed to have a variant strain of the virus.

Brooks Composite High School and Eastbrook Elementary School in the city are on AHS Alert status.

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

The province-wide reproductive value from last week is 1.04. It is 0.98 in Calgary Zone, 1.10 in Edmonton Zone and 1.05 in the rest of Alberta. These figures are updated each Monday.

Cypress County has totaled 223 cases – 44 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 144 total cases. There are 11 active cases, 130 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 479 total cases — 36 active cases, 438 recovered and there have been five deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 77 total cases – six active cases, 70 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,404 total cases — 35 active cases and 1,355 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 179 cases — 10 active cases, 167 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 280 total cases. There are 60 active cases, 217 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 4,096 cases. There are 418 active cases, 3,643 recovered and there have been 35 deaths. Lethbridge County has 942 cases, 121 active cases, 810 recovered and there have been 11 deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day April 26, 2021.”

Read the full April 27 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 40,401 cases, 2,518 considered active. There are 37,401 recovered cases and there have been 482 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 408,429 doses of vaccine.

by Chris Brown

Medicine Hat tops 150 active COVID-19 cases

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