Nearly 1,500 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Alberta over weekend; ‘not just the flu,’ says Hinshaw

Hinshaw said the narratives “on the one hand say we need to drive to zero cases at all costs and on the other hand say the COVID is a mild illness for most, so we should let it spread freely and pursue herd immunity.”

“We are not well-served by false dichotomies, or by any positions that make it harder to have the respectful dialogues that a complex, wicked problem like COVID-19 presents. We must continue listening to each other and striking a difficult but necessary balance.”

The chief medical officer of health said we can’t live in fear and terror of the virus for months but also can’t abandon efforts to protect the most vulnerable and ensure the health system can continue to meet all Albertans’ health needs.

Hinshaw is asking Albertans to respect COVID-19 and says it “is not just the flu.”

She said it is a novel virus that can overwhelm the health system and weaken essential services.

“Respecting COVID-19 means taking public health advice seriously by taken care of ourselves and communities by taking steps to prevent transmission.”

She also asked for respectful dialogue with those who have different opinions, saying solutions will be found by working together.

Hinshaw reiterated a balance must be found between minimizing the risk of COVID-19 and the harms of restrictions needed to keep the spread manageable.

“We have crossed a tipping point and are losing the balance we have been seeking,” she warned.

She added the trigger of COVID hospitalization they’re watching is not above five per cent but the province as a whole must respond to the actual situation and not just the metric chosen in the spring.

“This weekend’s COVID-19 numbers tell the story clearly,” Hinshaw said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases across the province stands at 25,733. There are 4,477 active cases, up 826 from Friday, and 20,949 recovered cases, up 639.

Just one of the new cases is in Medicine Hat. Medicine Hat now has a total of 90 cases over the course of the pandemic with 82 recovered and two deaths. One new case in the city brings the current active case count to six.

There are currently 118 Albertans in hospital, 16 in ICU. There have been 307 deaths, an increase of seven from Friday.

The province conducted 58,183 tests in the past 72 hours – 16,367 on Oct. 23, 17,106 on Oct. 24 and 12,666 on Oct. 25.

Alberta Health Services is increasing its efforts to get results to Albertans faster.

Hinshaw said that effective today, if a positive case attended an event while infectious, AHS will notify the organizer and provide them with written notification that can be directly emailed to all event attendees. It is hoped the notification process will be sped up.

AHS will continue to make the phone calls if the organizer cannot handle the responsibility and will continue to directly notify close contacts of cases outside of events and positive test results.

Hinshaw said new social gathering limits of 15 people are now in place for Edmonton and Calgary. She said they apply to events where people are mixing and mingling such as dinner and birthday parties and baby showers. They do not change the limits currently in place for structured gatherings such as ordinary dining and worship services.

The new limit will be re-evaluated in one month.

New voluntary health measures were also introduced for Calgary.

Hinshaw also said the symptom list for children is being reviewed after revisions to the list in B.C. and Ontario did not result in an increase in COVID-19 transmission in schools. She hopes the review will be completed and the results released soon.

With a rate of more than 50 active cases per 100,000 people, Brooks is now on the provincial “Watch” list; Brooks’ rate is 155.5. Brooks has eight new cases for a total of 30.

Lethbridge and Lethbridge County are also both on the “Watch” list at 162.6 and 91.2, respectively.

On Monday, Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre, Parkside Junior High School in Redcliff, and Brooks Composite High School and the Brooks Campus of Medicine Hat College all reported cases connected to the schools.

On Monday there are 101 schools in the province where outbreaks have been declared. Alberta Health’s threshold for declaring an outbreak in school is two cases being in a school while infectious within 14 days.

No local schools are classified as having outbreaks on the provincial website.

The website Support Our Students is tracking instances of cases in schools across the province. As of late Monday afternoon none of the four local schools that announced cases today were on that list.

Elm Street School and Herald School were added to the list on Oct. 5, and Ecole St. John Paul II has been on it since late August.

There are 2,268 cases in the South Zone There are 255 active cases and 1,986 recovered. There are currently seven COVID-19 cases in hospital in the South Zone, three in the ICU. The zone death total remains at 27.

Cypress County has totaled 38 cases – five active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 45 total cases. There are three active cases and the rest are recovered.

The MD of Taber has 50 total cases — six active cases and the rest recovered.

Special Areas No. 2 has 18 total cases, one active case and the rest recovered.

Brooks has 1,162 total cases — 30 active and 1,123 are recovered. Brooks has recorded nine deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 42 cases — seven active cases, 33 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 71 total cases. There are six active cases, 64 are recovered cases and there has been one death in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 452 cases. There are 161 active cases, 289 recovered and there have been two deaths. Lethbridge County has 129 cases, 23 active cases, 105 recovered and there has been one death.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Oct. 25, 2020.”

You can read the full Oct. 26 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan reported 192 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, seven in the South Zones.

Saskatchewan has a total of 2,783 cases, 650 considered active. There are 2,108 recovered cases and there have been 25 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

by Chris Brown

Nearly 1,500 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Alberta over weekend; ‘not just the flu,’ says Hinshaw

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