By Chris Brown

One new case in city, 61 in province

Active COVID-19 cases down again in Medicine Hat

Jun 29, 2021 | 3:42 PM

In her last planned regular COVID-19 update, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said the pandemic has challenged us in ways that we never could have expected.

“But it has also made clear one indisputable fact. We are stronger and safer together,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said on Tuesday.

As the province enters Stage 3 of the Open for Summer plan on Canada Day, Hinshaw asked Albertans to make safe choices.

“Not because there is an order directing it, but because it is the right thing to do.”

Hinshaw said that as the province opens and our social circles widen, COVID-19 is not going away completely. She said it remains a potentially serious illness that must be respected.

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Testing will continue to be offered to everyone with symptoms as the impact of the move into Stage 3 is monitored, she said. Investigation and contact tracing of new cases and screening for variants of concern will also continue.

Hinshaw said numbers are going down across the board and that Albertans should be proud.

“Cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and our positivity rate are the lowest they’ve been since last summer and early fall,” Hinshaw said, adding there are only five active cases in all continuing care facilities in Alberta combined.

She added opportunity is knocking and if Albertans keep making wise choices and more people get vaccinated active cases could fall below 500 in a few short weeks. There are currently more than 1,100 active cases in the province.

She said she continues to recommend all Albertans ages 12 and older get both doses of vaccine to be protected. She said since January more than 95 per cent of cases were in those who hadn’t been vaccinated or hadn’t built immunity after the first dose.

She said testing is underway but there is no way to know when vaccines will be available for those under 12 years of age. She encouraged all eligible Albertans in their lives to be immunized and to make decisions based on mitigation of risks for younger Albertans. That includes outside activities and a smaller number of close contacts.

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

Medicine Hat now has had 1,264 total cases – the seven active, 1,235 recovered and there have been 22 deaths.

There is one new case in the city today and two new recoveries.

58.7 per cent of Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update.

There are 1,132 active cases, down 129 from Monday and 228,480 recovered cases in the province, up 186.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 231,911.

There are 61 new cases in the province today, and 16 more variant of concern cases have been identified.

There are now 170 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 36 of which are in ICU, and 2,299 deaths.

The province completed 3,453 tests since the last update.

The positivity rate from then is about 1.6 per cent.

Alberta has administered 4,266,408 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Province-wide, 72.7 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 40.7 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Albertans of all ages, 61.8 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 34.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Hinshaw announced a change in the way the province calculates vaccination percentages. Beginning with today’s numbers, it will use Statistics Canada’s July 2020 data, bringing it in line with how the Public Health Agency of Canada and most provinces. Until now Alberta Health Services has used its 2021 population data as its denominator.

She also said the school outbreak map will be removed from the provincial website as school ends.

There are 34 active cases and 12,325 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 133.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday AHS South Zone currently has seven COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are four at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has three inpatients.

The province-wide reproductive value is 0.75. It is 0.86 in Calgary Zone, 0.57 in Edmonton Zone and 0.70 in the rest of Alberta. These figures are updated every second Monday.

George Davison School is on AHS Outbreak status.

Regionally, St. Joseph’s Collegiate in Brooks is on Alert status.

Schools remain on Outbreak and Alert status until there is no new confirmed case for 28 days.

Cypress County has totaled 301 cases – one active case, 299 recovered and one death. The latest vaccination rate for all ages is 49.2 per cent.

The County of Forty Mile has 157 total cases. There are no active cases, 154 recovered and there have been three deaths. The latest vaccination rate for all ages is 29.1 per cent.

The MD of Taber has 571 total cases — no active cases, 565 recovered and there have been six deaths. The latest vaccination rate for all ages is 35.6 per cent.

Special Areas No. 2 has 103 total cases – no active cases, 102 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,503 total cases — two active cases and 1,486 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 15 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 241 cases — no active cases, 239 recovered and there have been two deaths. The latest vaccination rate for all ages is 47.6 per cent, including Brooks.

The County of Warner has 468 total cases. There is one active case, 464 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest vaccination rate for all ages is 44.6 per cent.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 4,838 cases. There are five active cases, 4,794 recovered and there have been 38 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,262 cases, seven active cases, 1,243 recovered and there have been 12 deaths.

Not all the areas on the vaccination data map match the case count map.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day June 28, 2021.”

Read the full June 29 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 48,823 cases, 464 considered active. There are 47,791 recovered cases and there have been 568 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 1,136,300 doses of vaccine.