By Chris Brown

43 new cases in city, 1,718 in province

Three more COVID-19 deaths in Medicine Hat

Sep 16, 2021 | 3:47 PM

Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu said 75 per cent of people in Alberta ICU beds are fighting COVID-19 and pressure on the health system continues to be severe.

ICU capacity in the province is at 86 per cent with the 137 surge beds. Without them, capacity would be at more than 155 per cent.

“This fourth wave has resulted in the sharpest increase in ICU patients that we have seen throughout the pandemic,” said Yiu.

“Health care is a finite resource. We do not have the ability to simply open more and more ICU spaces and hospital beds and we do not have an endless number of staff who can provide critical care.”

She said there’s no question ICUs are under extreme pressure and they are continuing to find way to increase capacity in the highest level of surge response.

IN THE COMMUNITY

'Compassionate Friends' offer peer support for bereaved in Medicine Hat

2h ago

POSTAL STRIKE

Donations to Medicine Hat non-profits drop over Canada Post strike

2h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat's Adopt-A-Rink program still seeking volunteers

11h ago

The number of active COVID-19 cases is going down in Medicine Hat, but the number of deaths continues to rise in the city.

There are 560 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Thursday.

Medicine Hat has had 3,117 total cases – the 560 active, 2,509 recovered and there have been 48 deaths, three new today.

There are 43 new cases in the city in the past 24 hours and 54 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News Thursday that there are currently 76 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 19 of those in the ICU. There are 36 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with eight in the ICU.

MHRH has 10 ICU beds, but Medicine Hat physician Paul Parks has said they don’t have the people to man them all as they did in previous waves of the pandemic.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 33 with 11 in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre has five inpatients, and the Brooks Health Centre and Bow Island Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 75 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 67.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

65.1 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 58.6 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 18,706 active cases in the province, up 285 from Wednesday, and 254,357 recovered cases in the province, up 1,453.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 275,538.

There are 1,718 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours, and 709 more variant of concern cases have been identified.

There are now 896 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 222 of which are in ICU, and 2,505 deaths.

The province completed 16,364 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 10.5 per cent.

Alberta has administered 5,685,024 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

READ MORE: Fitness studios, funeral homes once again adapting to new rules

In her update this afternoon, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said she will provide updates twice a week for the foreseeable future.

Following the announcement of more public health measures in Alberta on Wednesday evening, Hinshaw tried to answer some questions that have already come up, including around the business exemption program and if businesses need to apply.

“The answer is no. Businesses simply need to consult the material we will be posting tomorrow on our website and implement the process described there in order to qualify,” explained the chief medical officer of health.

She added enforcements and audits will occur.

Not following the restrictions and not implement a proof of vaccination system would be violating public health orders. She said those orders are mandatory and legally enforceable.

She said anyone seeking a negative test result to access a business “must get this test privately. AHS testing is for those with symptoms, those in outbreaks and those who need it the most.”

She also offered that “instead of paying for a test, you can get vaccinated for free.”

Hinshaw said limiting indoor gatherings even among fully vaccinated people is a precaution to save the health-care system against breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated people. Breakthrough cases make up about 20 per of current hospitalizations.

Among new cases today, 70 per cent are unvaccinated, 7 per cent are partially vaccinated and 23 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 73.8 per cent are unvaccinated, 3.9 per cent are partially vaccinated and 22.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The number of local outbreaks listed on AHS website has been rising across the city in the past weeks. Moduline and the Salvation Army Shelter have been added in recent days.

Province-wide, 79.6 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 71.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 67.7 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 60.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are 1,823 active cases and 15,023 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 179.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5 is 1.12. It is 1.14 in Calgary Zone, 1.09 in Edmonton Zone and 1.12 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Aug. 16-22 the numbers were 1.19 in the province, 1.05 in Calgary Zone, 1.32 in Edmonton Zone and 1.22 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 626 cases. There are 111 active cases, 515 recovered and one death. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 56.3 per cent, the two-dose rate is 50.

The County of Forty Mile has 194 total cases. There are 20 active cases, 171 recovered and there have been three deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 32.5 per cent, the two-dose rate is 29.

The MD of Taber has 850 total cases — 185 active cases, 658 recovered and there have been seven deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 39.6 per cent, the two-dose rate is 35.7.

Special Areas No. 2 has 154 total cases – 29 active cases, 124 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,768 total cases — 117 active cases and 1,635 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 16 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 332 cases — 37 active cases, 291 recovered and there have been four deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 54.7 per cent, the two-dose rate is 48.1. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 544 total cases. There are 50 active cases, 491 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 50.2 per cent, the two-dose rate is 44.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 5,597 cases. There are 350 active cases, 5,203 recovered and there have been 44 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,486 cases, 117 active cases, 1,355 recovered and there have been 14 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 Sept. 15, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 60,589 cases, 4,064 considered active. There are 55,895 recovered cases and there have been 630 COVID-19 deaths in the province.