By Chris Brown

13 new cases in city, 1,685 in Alberta

Alberta announces COVID-19 vaccine task force, 113 active cases in Medicine Hat

Dec 2, 2020 | 4:13 PM

Premier Jason Kenney has announced a COVID-19 vaccine task force on Wednesday, to execute Alberta’s vaccine distribution.

The task force will be led by Paul Wynnyk, deputy minister of municipal affairs, and will be a “multi-disciplinary team drawn from across the public sector.”

Vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer will be ready to be distributed within weeks, said Kenney, and Alberta is well-prepared to distribute and administer a vaccine as soon as doses arrive.

“Smooth and rapid vaccine distribution will not only be essential to our economic recovery, but they will be a matter of life and death for many Albertans and their families,” said Kenney.

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Kenney said the government will not make vaccination mandatory and will amend the Public Health Act to remove the power of mandatory inoculation, but strongly urged as many Albertans as possible to get vaccinated.

He said he will get vaccinated when it’s available to him.

There are 13 new cases in Medicine Hat on Wednesday, and 1,685 in Alberta.

There are 113 active cases in Medicine Hat.

The city now has 289 total cases – the 113 active, 172 recovered and there have been four deaths.

Across the province, there are 17,144 active cases, up 516 from Tuesday, and 43,464 recovered cases, up 1,159.

There are 1,685 new cases in the province today.

Alberta has had 61,169 total cases over the course of the pandemic.

There are now 504 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 97 of which are in ICU, and 561 deaths.

The province completed 18,432 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 9.2 per cent.

The premier said that in the first phase of vaccine distribution about 10 per cent of the population will be vaccinated.

It will start will priority groups, identified as long-term care and designated supportive living residents and staff, and health-care personnel. It will also include on-reserve First Nations members over 65 years and seniors over 75 years old.

Hinshaw said that focusing on those in continuing care facilities and health-care workers will reduce overall demand on the acute care health system by protecting the most vulnerable citizens and safeguarding health workers.

The second phase will run from April to September with groups to be determined, followed by opening vaccinations to all Albertans.

Wynnyk said the task force will work with Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services throughout the process.

“Each and every dose of vaccine represents an Albertan who needs to be protected,” said Wynnyk.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro said conversations have begun with Red Cross regarding the possibility of field hospitals as a contingency plan.

Medicine Hat remains on the provincial “Watch” list and is in enhanced status. In enhanced status, risk levels require enhanced public health measures to control the spread and are informed by local context.

Regions are placed on the province’s “Watch” list when they have a rate of more than 50 active cases per 100,000 population. Medicine Hat’s 113 active cases among 68,057 people puts it at a rate of 166.

Cypress County with a rate of 169.4 on 19 active cases and the County of Forty Mile with a rate of 310 on 20 active cases are also on the list.

Brooks (212.5 rate), the County of Newell (259.5), Lethbridge (215.2) Lethbridge County (257.6) and the MD of Taber (477.1) are also on the list.

All those regions are also in enhanced status.

There are 3,987 cases in the South Zone. There are 663 active cases and 3,278 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 46.

On Tuesday, an AHS spokesperson told CHAT News the South Zone had 20 COVID-19 positive patients in hospital. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has six patients with two of those in ICU. Chinook Regional Hospital has 13, with three of those in ICU. Brooks Health Centre has one patient.

The provincial reporting site on Wednesday indicated 19 COVID-19 patients in hospital, six of them in ICU.

On Wednesday there are 208 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.

In the city, Medicine Hat High School and Prairie Mennonite Alternative School are listed as having outbreaks.

The website Support Our Students is tracking instances of cases in schools across the province.

Cypress County has totaled 118 cases – 19 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 111 total cases. There are 20 active cases, 90 recovered and there has been one death.

The MD of Taber has 262 total cases — 90 active cases, 168 recovered and there have been four deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 23 total cases – five active and the rest recovered.

Brooks has 1,288 total cases — 41 active and 1,234 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 13 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 113 cases — 21 active cases, 90 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 124 total cases. There are 32 active cases, 90 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,043 cases. There are 213 active cases, 823 recovered and there have been seven deaths. Lethbridge County has 337 cases, 65 active cases, 270 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Dec. 1, 2020.”

Read the full Dec. 2 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 238 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, 12 in the South Zones.

Saskatchewan has a total of 8,982 cases, 3,970 considered active. There are 4,959 recovered cases and there have been 53 COVID-19 deaths in the province.