By Chris Brown

Five new cases in city, 475 in province

Active COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat drops below 100

Nov 3, 2021 | 3:57 PM

Premier Jason Kenney says it’s a “completely ridiculous misconstrual” of his words on Monday evening in the legislature to suggest he blamed the chief medical officer of health for the lack of action taken in August as the fourth wave took hold in the province.

He said he takes ultimate responsibility for provincial policies on COVID-19.

“This is not about blame. I was simply being transparent about when we received information or advice. We’ve always sought to act promptly with advice that we’ve received, to treat that advice with the greatest of seriousness,” said the premier.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said when she read “the specific comments that were made in the context of a timeline, that accurately reflected what I brought forward.”

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Kenney said cabinet endorsed the chief medical officer of health’s decision to move from pandemic to endemic status at the end of July and then in the middle of August delayed a number of those measures on the advice of Hinshaw.

“And then in late August when we saw the situation deteriorating in terms of hospitalizations another set of recommendations was brought forward and then we immediately began the decision-making process which resulted in the Sept. 3 measures that were announced,” said Kenney.

He said additional measures were enacted about 10 days later, including the Restrictions Exemption Program.

There are 99 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Wednesday.

It’s the first time there have been fewer than 100 active cases in the city since Aug. 4.

Medicine Hat has had 4,438 total cases – the 99 active, 4,261 recovered and there have been 78 deaths.

There are five new cases in the city since Tuesday and 13 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 78 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 17 of those in the ICU. There are 20 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with 5 in the ICU.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 41 with 12 in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre and Taber Health Centre have four inpatients each; Bow Island Health Centre, Brooks Health Centre, Pincher Creek Heath Centre, and St. Michael’s Health Centre have two each; and Raymond Health Centre has one.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 84 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 77.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

72.9 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 67.4 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 6,693 active cases in the province, down 218 from Tuesday, and 315,175 recovered cases in the province, up 691.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 325,001.

There are 475 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours.

There are now 697 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 155 of which are in ICU, and 3,133 deaths.

The province completed 10,348 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 4.6 per cent.

Alberta has administered 6,583,429 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

The province will soon expand the eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots for those who are at least six months past receiving their second dose of vaccine.

Starting Monday a booster dose will be available to all Albertans aged 70 and older, and all First Nations, Inuit and Metis people aged 18 and older.

The decision is based on the recommendation of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and its provincial counterpart, said Kenney.

Booster shots will also be available to front-line health-care workers who received their first two doses less than eight weeks apart and Albertans who received two doses of AstraZeneca or one dose of Jansen while abroad.

He urged Albertans to seek out credible sources of information and speak to their doctor or pharmacist and make the choice to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

An average of nearly 16,000 doses a day since the introduction of the proof of vaccination program about seven weeks ago.

“Make no mistake, vaccines have saved lives,” Kenney said.

Active cases are down 70 per cent since the peak of the fourth wave on Sept. 26 and the number of Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19 is down 39 per cent.

The premier said this shows progress “but does not mean our work is done.”

He said ICU admissions have also declined by 42 per cent since the end of September, but that total ICU occupancy remains at 139 per cent of a typical non-COVID year.

“And that’s why we have to continue to be cautious until the pressure on our intensive care units has reached a more manageable level,” he said.

Kenney added about 85 per cent of COVID ICU patients are not fully vaccinated.

Among new cases today, 58.7 per cent are unvaccinated, 6.9 per cent are partially vaccinated and 34.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 72.5 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.3 per cent are partially vaccinated and 22.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 87.2 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 80.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 74.2 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 68.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are a number of local outbreaks listed on AHS website.

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

There are 710 active cases and 21,398 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 275.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Oct. 25-31 is 0.87. It is 0.91 in Calgary Zone, 0.90 in Edmonton Zone and 0.84 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Oct. 11-17 the numbers were 0.85 in the province, 0.88 in Calgary Zone, 0.85 in Edmonton Zone and 0.84 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 838 cases. There are 23 active cases, 809 recovered and six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 64.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 58.8.

The County of Forty Mile has 340 total cases. There are 19 active cases, 316 recovered and there have been five deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 40 per cent, the two-dose rate is 34.8.

The MD of Taber has 1,228 total cases — 40 active cases, 1,173 recovered and there have been 14 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 46.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 41.8.

Special Areas No. 2 has 238 total cases – three active cases, 232 recovered and there have been two deaths.

Brooks has 2,083 total cases — 19 active cases and 2,041 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 23 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 468 cases — 17 active cases, 444 recovered and there have been seven deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 64.8 per cent, the two-dose rate is 57.4. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 754 total cases. There are 39 active cases, 711 are recovered cases and there have been four deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 57.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 51.7.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 6,928 cases. There are 225 active cases, 6,643 recovered and there have been 60 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,912 cases, 64 active cases, 1,829 recovered and there have been 18 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 Nov. 2, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 78,075 cases, 1,765 considered active. There are 75,448 recovered cases and there have been 862 COVID-19 deaths in the province.