By Chris Brown

Province records 29 new COVID-19 deaths, sets another hospitalization record

Sep 21, 2021 | 5:24 PM

The province’s new health minister announced three immediate strategies to shift how the province manages COVID-19.

“First, increasing our baseline hospital capacity permanently. Second educating vaccine-hesitant Albertans to get more Albertans immunized. And third, preparing our health system to more adequately respond to potential future waves of COVID-19,” said Jason Copping.

He said further details will come later.

Copping also asked any Albertans who have not been vaccinated to talk about it with a health professional. he said it’s good to have questions but “be sure to place your trust in the experts.”

There are 687 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

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Medicine Hat has had 3,468 total cases – the 687 active, 2,733 recovered and there have been 48 deaths.

There are 66 new cases in the city today and 39 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 85 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 24 of those in the ICU. There are 36 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with nine 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 40 with 15 in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre has four inpatients, Brooks Health Centre has three, and Pincher Creek Health Centre and Bow Island Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 76.9 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 68.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

66.7 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 59.5 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 20,917 active cases in the province, up 303 from Monday, and 260,219 recovered cases in the province, up 1,187.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 283,710.

There are 1,519 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours, and 2,011 new variant of concern cases.

There are now a record 996 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 222 of which are in ICU, and 2,574 deaths.

The province completed 13,597 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 11.2 per cent.

Alberta has administered 5,853,057 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tyler Shandro was removed as health minister. He and Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping swapped roles. Premier Jason Kenney said Shandro offered his resignation and the two decided it was best to get a fresh pair of eyes to lead the ministry.

In the face of repeated questions, Kenney said the decision was not based on appeasing a portion of the party that is angry with his leadership.

“We are focused on one thing which is that is getting through this fourth wave and preparing for whatever else COVID may have in store for us in the future, not on politics.”

Kenney later said his focus has to be on the pandemic and it would be irresponsible to focus on a leadership review instead.

On the pandemic, he said there is “a very serious pressure on the system.”

He said provincial ICU capacity is at 87 per cent, including the surge beds. Without those beds, ICU capacity would be at 169 per cent.

There are currently 337 ICU beds in Alberta, 164 of which are surge beds.

The province also reached out to the federal government for help to relieve pressure on the health-care system.

Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver wrote a letter to Bill Blair, the federal minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, identifying two specific areas of potential assistance.

McIver asks for equipment and skilled health-care personnel to relocate patients out of Alberta, and for critical care staff, specifically ICU nurses and respiratory therapists.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said some of the new deaths were among people who were fully vaccinated and had pre-existing conditions that compromised their immune systems but most of the 29 new deaths were in people who were not vaccinated at all.

“These numbers could have been very different and that makes these losses even harder for those who are left behind. Our actions every day are literally a matter of life and death and should be treated as such,” she said.

The province has expanded eligibility for an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine to more immunocompromised Albertans to align with recent recommendations made by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

Immunocompromising conditions that qualify for an additional dose at least eight weeks after a second dose now include:

• Recipients of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy.
• Individuals with moderate to severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g., DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome).
• Individuals with Stage 3 or advanced HIV infection and those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
• Individuals undergoing immunosuppressive therapies (e.g., anti-B cell therapies, high-dose systemic corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, or tumor-necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors and other biologic agents).
• Transplant recipients, including solid organ transplants and hematopoietic stem cell transplants.
• Individuals with chronic kidney disease who are receiving regular dialysis.
• Individuals in active cancer treatment (chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapies), excluding those receiving only hormonal therapy, radiation therapy or surgery.
• Individuals on certain medications for autoimmune diseases, including rituximab, ocrelizumab and ofatumumab.

Third doses of COVID-19 vaccine are also available for seniors living in congregate care. These individuals are at the highest risk of severe outcomes and potential spread within congregate living sites.

Among new cases today, 70.6 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.9 per cent are partially vaccinated and 23.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 75.4 per cent are unvaccinated, 3.5 per cent are partially vaccinated and 21.1 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, Montessori Children’s House of Medicine Hat and Nature’s Way Learning Centre were added last week.

Province-wide, 81.4 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 72.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 69.3 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 61.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are 2,170 active cases and 15,665 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 187.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Sept. 13-19 is 1.04. It is 0.94 in Calgary Zone, 0.97 in Edmonton Zone and 1.15 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Aug. 30-Sept. 5 the numbers were 1.12 in the province, 1.14 in Calgary Zone, 1.09 in Edmonton Zone and 1.12 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 686 cases. There are 115 active cases, 569 recovered and two deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 58.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 50.9.

The County of Forty Mile has 212 total cases. There are 33 active cases, 176 recovered and there have been three deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 33.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 29.4.

The MD of Taber has 927 total cases — 210 active cases, 708 recovered and there have been nine deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 40.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 36.2.

Special Areas No. 2 has 176 total cases – 41 active cases, 134 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,824 total cases — 131 active cases and 1,676 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 17 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 351 cases — 46 active cases, 301 recovered and there have been four deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 56.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 49.1. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 575 total cases. There are 70 active cases, 502 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 51.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 44.7.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 5,799 cases. There are 438 active cases, 5,316 recovered and there have been 45 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,536 cases, 133 active cases, 1,389 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. 20, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 62,989 cases, 4,700 considered active. There are 57,643 recovered cases and there have been 660 COVID-19 deaths in the province.