By Chris Brown

11 new cases in city, 531 in province

Kenney: Key COVID-19 metrics falling province-wide

Oct 19, 2021 | 5:06 PM

Premier Jason Kenney called the state of public health emergency, increased restrictions, the proof of vaccination program and creation of ICU surge beds “tough but necessary steps” to combat the fourth wave.

He said Albertans have risen to that challenge.

“I would like to thank Albertans for all that they have done to push down the fourth wave,” he said. “Of course the biggest thank you goes to Alberta’s amazing frontline health-care workers.”

Kenney said ICU capacity is now at 75 per cent, compared to 97 per cent just over six weeks ago.

“Our daily case count, our positivity rate and other metrics are falling too,” the premier said.

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He added that so far they have not seen evidence of a spike in cases stemming from the Thanksgiving weekend, “although we need to keep watching over the next few days as it’s a little too early to see completely the full impact.”

Kenney encouraged people to get their flu shots to help reduce flu-related hospitalizations and lessen stress on the health-care system.

Kenney also announced new measures at continuing care facilities coming into effect on Oct. 25. They’ll include mask requirements and stronger quarantine requirements.

He also said that as of Nov. 15, the QR code will be the only valid proof of vaccination to access businesses that are participating in the Restrictions Exemption Program.

There are 237 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat has had 4,315 total cases – the 237 active, 4,005 recovered and there have been 73 deaths.

There are 11 new cases in the city in the past 24 hours and 44 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 110 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 22 of those in the ICU. There are 39 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with five in the ICU.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 56 with 17 in the ICU. Brooks Health Centre and Cardston Health Centre have four inpatients each; Crowsnest Pass Health Centre, Pincher Creek Health Centre, and Taber Health Centre have two each; and Bow Island Health Centre has one.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 82.7 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 73.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

71.8 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 64.1 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 11,402 active cases in the province, down 900 from Monday, and 302,574 recovered cases in the province, up 1,419.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 316,964.

There are 531 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours.

There are now 964 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 218 of which are in ICU, and 2,988 deaths.

The province completed 8,030 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 6.6 per cent.

Alberta has administered 6,368,880 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of AHS, says the vaccine mandate established for AHS this summer has been largely well-accepted by health-care workers.

She reported that 92 per cent of all AHS employees have submitted their proof of vaccination. Seven per cent have not provided their proof of vaccination and they are working with those people to ascertain their vaccination status.

Less than one per cent of employees have applied for exemptions on medical or religious grounds.

“Overall this tells us there is very broad support for the mandatory vaccine policy. These are impressive numbers,” she said. “We stand by the policy and it will be fully implemented.”

Sixty-one AHS employees have resigned as a result of the policy.

Among new cases today, 64.2 per cent are unvaccinated, 6.6 per cent are partially vaccinated and 29.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 70.6 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.4 per cent are partially vaccinated and 24 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 86.1 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 77.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 73.2 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 66 per cent are fully vaccinated.

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

There are no local schools on Outbreak status. Six schools in Medicine Hat are on Alert status, as well as five in the surrounding area.

There are 1,175 active cases and 20,114 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 247.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Oct. 11-17 is 0.85. It is 0.88 in Calgary Zone, 0.85 in Edmonton Zone and 0.84 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Sept. 27-Oct. 3 the numbers were 0.92 in the province, 0.93 in Calgary Zone, 0.86 in Edmonton Zone and 0.94 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 814 cases. There are 36 active cases, 772 recovered and six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 63.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 55.3.

The County of Forty Mile has 317 total cases. There are 24 active cases, 288 recovered and there have been five deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 38.3 per cent, the two-dose rate is 32.2.

The MD of Taber has 1,185 total cases — 107 active cases, 1,066 recovered and there have been 12 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 45.2 per cent, the two-dose rate is 39.

Special Areas No. 2 has 232 total cases – 15 active cases, 215 recovered and there have been two deaths.

Brooks has 2,058 total cases — 49 active cases and 1,987 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 22 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 441 cases — 31 active cases, 404 recovered and there have been six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 63.1 per cent, the two-dose rate is 53.9. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 709 total cases. There are 54 active cases, 652 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 56.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 48.8.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 6,667 cases. There are 354 active cases, 6,263 recovered and there have been 50 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,829 cases, 103 active cases, 1,709 recovered and there have been 17 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 Oct. 18, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 74,940 cases, 3,434 considered active. There are 70,713 recovered cases and there have been 793 COVID-19 deaths in the province.