By Chris Brown

33 new cases in city, 1,246 in province

Alberta makes protests at health-care sites illegal; two more COVID-19 deaths in Medicine Hat

Sep 28, 2021 | 3:57 PM

Alberta is toughening measures to protect health-care workers from anti-vaccine protesters who choose to protest at health-care facilities.

Premier Jason Kenney announced hospitals and other facilities that provide health services will be designated as essential infrastructure and protected under the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

He said all Canadians have the right to protest peacefully, but “using our hospitals as a venue to attack vaccines and reasonable public health measures only adds more stress to our already overburdened front-line workers.”

Fines for individuals will range from between $1,000 and $10,000 for the first offence to up to $25,000 and potentially jail time.

There are 666 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

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Medicine Hat has had 3,793 total cases – the 666 active, 3,075 recovered and there have been 52 deaths, two new today.

There are 33 new cases in the city in the past 24 hours and 61 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 108 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 27 of those in the ICU. There are 45 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with 11 in the ICU.

AHS confirmed last Wednesday that in the prior seven days four ICU surge beds have been added at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Later the same day, a nurse at the hospital said those four beds were already filled.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 43 with 16 in the ICU. Brooks Health Centre has nine inpatients; Cardston Health Centre has five; Bow Island Health Centre has three; the Crowsnest Pass Health Centre, Pincher Creek Heath Centre and Taber Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 79.1 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 69.7 per cent are fully vaccinated.

68.7 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 60.5 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 20,513 active cases in the province, down 794 from Monday, and 271,608 recovered cases in the province, up 2,022.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 294,784.

There are 1,246 new cases in the province on Tuesday, 700 of which are variants of concern.

There are now 1,100 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 263 of which are in ICU, and 2,663 deaths.

The province completed 11,144 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 11.2 per cent.

Alberta has administered 6,031,708 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Justice Minister and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu echoed the premier on making protests at health-care sites illegal.

“This regulation is not about forbidding anyone’s constitutional right to protest. This is about ensuring the people protesting do not impede access to health care or staff that makes these facilities work,” he said.

Health Minister Jason Copping restated the three priorities he outlined one week ago when he was named to the post — permanently increasing ICU capacity permanently, get more Albertans vaccinated and better preparing the health system for future pandemics.

Kenney said rising active cases numbers over the weekend emphasized that fight against COVID-19 is not over.

He said all Albertans must do their part.

“That means following the rules and it means getting vaccinated most importantly,” he said.

Kenney said the strain being placed on the provincial health-care remains very serious and the province is doing all it can to increase capacity, particularly in ICUs.

As of this afternoon, there are 370 total ICU spaces across the province, with capacity at 86 per cent. The South Zone, which includes all communities south of Calgary, is at 81 per cent capacity.

Alberta Health Services has added 197 surge spaces to deal with the increased needs, meaning capacity would be at 184 per cent without those extra beds.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that staff at childcare facilities will be required to wear masks at work to protect children who are not eligible to be vaccinated.

She said that aligns childcare facilities with schools, where all staff and teachers are required to wear facemasks.

Hinshaw also said that about 75 per cent of COVID deaths in the last four months were not fully vaccinated. As well, almost 80 per cent of those in hospital and 91 per cent of those in ICU in the last four months were also not fully vaccinated.

“These numbers speak for themselves. Vaccines are critically important,” she said, adding vaccines protect not only the person vaccinated but all those they come in contact with.

Among new cases today, 70.9 per cent are unvaccinated, 4.9 per cent are partially vaccinated and 24.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 74.6 per cent are unvaccinated, 4.2 per cent are partially vaccinated and 21.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 83.2 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 74 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 70.8 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 62.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The number of local outbreaks listed on AHS website has been rising across the city in the past weeks.

There are 2,260 active cases and 16,740 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 199.

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 740 cases. There are 111 active cases, 625 recovered and two deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 60.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 51.9.

The County of Forty Mile has 254 total cases. There are 62 active cases, 187 recovered and there have been five deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 35.3 per cent, the two-dose rate is 30.1.

The MD of Taber has 1,012 total cases — 181 active cases, 821 recovered and there have been 10 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 42.6 per cent, the two-dose rate is 36.9.

Special Areas No. 2 has 196 total cases – 40 active cases, 155 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,926 total cases — 173 active cases and 1,735 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 18 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 381 cases — 53 active cases, 324 recovered and there have been four deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 59.1 per cent, the two-dose rate is 50.3. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 617 total cases. There are 78 active cases, 536 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 54 per cent, the two-dose rate is 45.8.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 6,039 cases. There are 483 active cases, 5,511 recovered and there have been 45 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,626 cases, 152 active cases, 1,460 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. 27, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 66,343 cases, 4,734 considered active. There are 60,927 recovered cases and there have been 682 COVID-19 deaths in the province.