By Chris Brown

Eight new cases in city, 1,270 in province

Vaccine will save lives, says Hinshaw; 85 active COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat

Dec 16, 2020 | 4:03 PM

New daily cases of COVID-19 are under 1,300 for the first time in December and the provincial positivity rate is down close to seven per cent as Dr. Deena Hinshaw sought to calm fears about the vaccine that was first administered in Alberta on Tuesday.

She said any new vaccine can cause anxiety and raise questions, but that Canada has one of the most robust regulatory systems for new vaccines in the world and that even though Health Canada moved quickly to approve the vaccine, no steps were skipped.

“The same rigorous testing and scrutiny was applied to this vaccine as to any new treatment,” said the chief medical officer of health. “A clinical trial with tens of thousands of participants from multiple countries found no safety concerns.”

Hinshaw said she believes the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks, and this vaccine will save lives.

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“There is overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccination is the best defense against serious infections. When it is your turn, please get immunized. It is an act of kindness for yourself, for your loved ones and for your community.”

Vaccinations will only be administered in Calgary and Edmonton for now but will expand to priority health-care workers province-wide when another 25,000 doses arrive next week.

There are 85 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat.

The city now has had 392 total cases – the 85 active, 302 recovered and there have been five deaths.

There are eight new cases in the city in Wednesday’s update and six recoveries.

Across the province, there are 20,169 active cases, down 480 from Tuesday, and 63,668 recovered cases, up 1,734.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19 cases from the start of the pandemic is 84,597.

There are 1,270 new cases in the province today.

There are now 749 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 139 of which are in ICU, and 760 deaths.

The province completed 17,569 tests in the past 24 hours.

The provincial positivity rate is 7.3 per cent.

With 16 new deaths in the past 24 hours, Hinshaw offered what she called a sobering statistic.

“In less than 10 months, more Albertans have now died from COVID-19 than have died from influenza in the last 10 years combined,” she said.

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 83 active cases among 68,057 people puts it at a rate of 124.9.

Cypress County with a rate of 107 on 12 active cases is also on the list.

Brooks (196.0 rate), the County of Newell (210.1), Lethbridge (206.1) Lethbridge County (214) and the MD of Taber (164.3) are also on the list.

All those regions are also in enhanced status.

There are 4,640 cases in the South Zone. There are 553 active cases and 4,035 recovered. There are 20 in hospital due to COVID-19 in the zone, four of them in the ICU. The death total in the zone is at 52.

On Tuesday, an AHS spokesperson told CHAT News AHS South Zone currently has 19 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are seven at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, with one of those in the ICU. Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge has 12 inpatients, with three in the ICU.

On Wednesday there are 297 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, Crescent Heights High School is listed as having an outbreak.

In Brooks, an outbreak is listed at Christ the King Academy and at Holy Family Academy.

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

Cypress County has totaled 135 cases – 12 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 113 total cases. There is one active case, 110 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The MD of Taber has 293 total cases — 31 active cases, 256 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 33 total cases – eight active, 24 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,325 total cases — 38 active and 1,273 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 135 cases — 17 active cases, 116 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 141 total cases. There are 11 active cases, 128 are recovered cases and there have been two deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 1,292 cases. There are 204 active cases, 1,081 recovered and there have been seven deaths. Lethbridge County has 398 cases, 54 active cases, 341 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Dec. 15, 2020.”

Read the full Dec. 16 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan confirmed 169 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, four in the South Zones.

Saskatchewan has a total of 12,594 cases, 4,213 considered active. There are 8,283 recovered cases and there have been 98 COVID-19 deaths in the province.