Alberta students going back to in-person learning on Jan. 10

The government says both at-home rapid test kits and medical-grade masks will be distributed using a phased approach, with shipments being sent to schools as they are received by the province.

To start, boxes of five at-home rapid test kits will provide enough supply for each student and staff member to test twice per week for two and a half weeks and a two-week supply of masks – that have been tested and meet international standards – for each student and staff will also be shipped.

LaGrange said information from school authorities, health data and what is being done by other jurisdictions in Canada informed the decision.

Some students will be able to access resources to help them get back on track.

The education minister said free online tutoring will be available to students in Grade 4-9 and their parents as of next week.

“This will help them catch up on important skills and learning that they may have fallen behind on during the pandemic,” LaGrange said.

The e-tutoring hub will be launched with pre-recorded lessons on numeracy and literacy. It will be expanded later this year to include more grades and subjects and live tutoring.

Alberta Education is continuing to work with school authorities to plan for potential necessary shifts to short-term at-home learning, said LaGrange.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the rampant spread of Omicron and shifting nature of the virus required the province to pause and re-evaluate the best path forward for the second half of the school year.

“We know that COVID infection has a low but not zero risk for children,” said the chief medical officer of health. “We also know that in-person learning is critically important for many kids’ educational and social development and can provide a sense of stability and normalcy in these challenging times.”

She said there are no perfect or risk-free solutions but believes “the provincial approach balances the many competing risks our children face.”

On Wednesday, Medicine Hat passed 5,000 total COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of new cases in the province – 4,752 – and the positivity rate of 36.5 per cent are both new daily records.

There are 359 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Wednesday.

Medicine Hat has had 5,011 total cases – the 359 active, 4,574 recovered and there have been 78 deaths.

There are 47 new cases in the city and nine new recoveries in the past 24 hours.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News Tuesday that there are currently 18 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with three of those in the ICU. There are four inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with one COVID-19 positive patient in the ICU.

Chinook Regional Hospital has nine inpatients with two in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre, Crowsnest Pass Health Centre and Pincher Creek Health Centre have one inpatient each.

There have been 11,159 cases of the Omicron variant identified in Alberta, up from 10,432 on Tuesday. Of those, 251 cases are in the South Zone.

Among Hatters five years old and over, 81.2 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 75.7 per cent have received two doses.

77.1 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update.

There are 37,196 active cases in the province, up 2,920 in the past 24 hours, and 343,597 recovered cases in the province, up 1,821.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 384,126.

There are 4,752 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours.

There are now 470 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 72 of which are in ICU, and 3,333 deaths.

The province completed 12,694 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 36 per cent.

Alberta has administered 7,764,469 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Hinshaw said school reporting of COVID cases will be changed to reflect the current situation, in which Alberta Health Services is prioritizing high-risk areas such as continuing care and health-care workers for full case investigation.

Cases identified in students and school staff will be notified of their own test results but AHS will no longer do full case investigations for those non-high-risk cases. Details on the new strategy will be released as soon as they are available, Hinshaw said.

According to reports, a popular Rocky Mountain hotel and a major energy company have recently identified case counts in the triple digits.

The Fairmont Banff Springs and oilsands work camps of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. have both reportedly identified more than 100 cases of the COVID-19 during the pandemic’s fifth wave.

Among new cases today, 16 per cent are unvaccinated, 1 per cent are partially vaccinated and 83.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 46.4 per cent are unvaccinated, 4 per cent are partially vaccinated and 49.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 84.5 per cent of Albertans five years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 77.7 per cent have received two doses and 24.9 per cent have received three doses.

Among Alberta’s total population, 79.4 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 73 per cent have received two doses 23.4 per cent have received three doses.

There are no local outbreaks listed on AHS website.

There are 1,295 active cases and 23,301 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 291.

The province-wide reproductive value for the weeks of Nov. 29-Dec. 12 is 0.96. It is 0.90 in Calgary Zone, 0.99 in Edmonton Zone and 0.93 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Nov. 15-28, the numbers were 0.88 in the province, 0.90 in Calgary Zone, 0.95 in Edmonton Zone and 0.80 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 910 cases. There are 32 active cases, 872 recovered and six deaths. 73.6 per cent of those five years old and up have at least one dose of vaccine, 68.9 have two doses.

The County of Forty Mile has 356 total cases. There are 11 active cases, 340 recovered and there have been five deaths. 47.7 per cent of those five years old and up have at least one dose of vaccine, 44.2 have two doses

The MD of Taber has 1,341 total cases — 29 active cases, 1,294 recovered and there have been 18 deaths. 55 per cent of those five years old and up have at least one dose of vaccine, 51 have two doses

Special Areas No. 2 has 289 total cases – 13 active cases, 272 recovered and there have been three deaths.

Brooks has 2,146 total cases — 36 active cases and 2,086are recovered. Brooks has recorded 24 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 540 cases — 11 active cases, 521 recovered and there have been eight deaths. 74.3 per cent of those five years old and up have at least one dose of vaccine, 68.7 have two doses The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks and part of Special Areas No. 2.

The County of Warner has 821 total cases. There are 20 active cases, 797 are recovered cases and there have been four deaths in the county. 67.4 per cent of those five years old and up have at least one dose of vaccine, 61.4 have two doses

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 7,921 cases. There are 586 active cases, 7,272 recovered and there have been 63 deaths. Lethbridge County has 2,101 cases, 77 active cases, 2,004 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 Jan. 4, 2022.

Saskatchewan has a total of 87,708 cases, 4,446 considered active. There are 82,302 recovered cases and there have been 960 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

by Chris Brown

Alberta students going back to in-person learning on Jan. 10

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