By Chris Brown

three new cases in city, 422 in province

COVID-19 case numbers dropping province-wide, Hinshaw to scale back frequency of updates

Nov 9, 2021 | 3:16 PM

Alberta has a new tool in the fight against COVID-19

Sotrovimab is a monoclonal antibody treatment developed specifically for treating patients with COVID-19 who have mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.

Recently approved by Health Canada, it is the first treatment to be offered to outpatients in Alberta. For maximum effectiveness, says Dr. Deena Hinshaw, it must be administered within five days from when the symptoms begin.

“But let me stress that Sotrovimab is not a replacement for COVID-19 vaccines,’ said Alberta’s chief medical officer of health at her regular Tuesday update. “Albertans are still strongly encouraged to be vaccinated against the virus as vaccines are the most effective method to prevent the serious outcomes from the disease.”

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Mobile integrated health teams began administering to patients in their homes who want it, are aged 65 and over, are positive for COVID-19 and are unvaccinated.

The treatment program is being rolled out across the province in a phased approach, starting with those at the highest risk of severe outcomes like hospitalization.

There are 66 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat has had 4,461 total cases – the 66 active, 4,317 recovered and there have been 78 deaths.

There are three new cases in the city in the past 24 hours and eight new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 64 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 14 of those in the ICU. There are 17 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with 2 in the ICU.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 29 with 12 in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre has six inpatients; Pincher Creek Heath Centre and Taber Health Centre have three each; Brooks Health Centre has two; Bow Island Health Centre and Raymond Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 84.3 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 78.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

73.2 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 68.2 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 6,090 active cases in the province, down 297 since Monday, and 318,456 recovered cases in the province, up 715.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 327,705.

Image from alberta.ca

There are 422 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours.

There are now 608 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 128 of which are in ICU, and 3,159 deaths.

The province completed 8,330 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 5.1 per cent.

Alberta has administered 6,649,757 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Hinshaw continues to urge Albertans to get vaccinated and stressed that misinformation is still spreading online.

“Vaccines are safe and effective to everyone,” she said.

She said that in Alberta the odds of being hospitalized with COVID-19 are about eight times higher for those only partially vaccinated and 10-times higher for those who are unvaccinated.

Hinshaw said that as the number of cases and hospitalizations continues to go down across province, Albertans must continue to be vigilant.

“I want to be clear that this is still a significant number of people in hospital taxing our health-care system. We must all continue to support efforts to bring these numbers down even further.”

With dropping case numbers, Hinshaw will only give live media briefings on Tuesdays for the time being. She said additional updates will take place as needed and numbers will continue to be updated online on weekdays.

Beginning Monday, Nov. 15, Albertans’ vaccine record must include the QR code in order to enter any business or venue taking part in the Restrictions Exemption Program. Vaccination records without a QR code will no longer be accepted, with the exception of First Nations and military vaccination records.

Albertans can get their QR code at alberta.ca/covidrecords. You can save it to your phone or download it and print it. Participating registry offices can print off the QR code for free or people can call 811 to have it mailed.

Guidance for organizers of Remembrance Day ceremonies is posted online and Hinshaw reminded any Albertans attending any ceremonies in person to be mindful of the physical distancing, masking and capacity requirements in place.

Among new cases today, 61.4 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.3 per cent are partially vaccinated and 33.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 71.2 per cent are unvaccinated, 4.1 per cent are partially vaccinated and 24.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 87.6 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 81.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 74.5 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 69.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are five 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 one in the surrounding area.

There are 551 active cases and 21,772 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 280.

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 845 cases. There are 21 active cases, 818 recovered and six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 65.3 per cent, the two-dose rate is 59.9.

The County of Forty Mile has 341 total cases. There are 13 active cases, 323 recovered and there have been five deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 40.5 per cent, the two-dose rate is 35.5.

The MD of Taber has 1,250 total cases — 37 active cases, 1,198 recovered and there have been 15 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 46.8 per cent, the two-dose rate is 42.5.

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

Brooks has 2,087 total cases — 16 active cases and 2,047 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 24 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 487 cases — 28 active cases, 452 recovered and there have been seven deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 65.3 per cent, the two-dose rate is 58.4. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks and part of Special Areas No. 2.

The County of Warner has 767 total cases. There are 30 active cases, 733 are recovered cases and there have been four deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 58.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 52.5.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 7,001 cases. There are 171 active cases, 6,769 recovered and there have been 61 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,925 cases, 41 active cases, 1,865 recovered and there have been 19 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. 8, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 78,910 cases, 1,424 considered active. There are 76,612 recovered cases and there have been 874 COVID-19 deaths in the province.