By Chris Brown

Four new cases in city, 1,345 in province

Active COVID-19 cases down in city, walk-in AstraZeneca clinic coming

Apr 20, 2021 | 4:16 PM

Premier Jason Kenney says more than 5,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in the past 24 hours and nearly 70,000 appointments are booked for the next 10 days.

Kenney says that’s more uptake in one day than in all of last week and adds he is booked for an appointment on Thursday.

“As much as we’d like to believe that the jab gives us a superpower, please remember that it takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to work its magic,” he said, “And then we still have to get the second dose when it’s available to get the full protective effect.”

He also offered a word of caution.

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Dec. 13-15

12h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat's Mustard Seed adding new shelter spaces at Alberta government's request

Dec 12, 2024

HOLIDAYS

Medicine Hat Kiwanis hosting Christmas dinner, applications due Friday

Dec 12, 2024

“That first dose is not a license by any means to ignore or go lax on public health guidelines,” said Kenney.

Walk-in clinics will open in Medicine Hat and Brooks on Friday for those eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccines.

READ MORE: Pharmacies out of AstraZeneca vaccine as eligibility expands

Kenney encourages anyone who is eligible to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He says has been shown to reduced infection by 60 to 70 per cent and to reduce severe outcomes like hospitalization by 80 per cent.

He also says it’s safe, and the risk of adverse reactions is minuscule compared to the risk of COVID-19.

“Anyone infected with COVID-19 is much more likely to experience blood clots from COVID than they are from the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he says.

He said about one in four people are hospitalized with COVID get blood clots versus fewer than five cases that he knows of from about 700,000 people who got the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Kenney says vaccinations combined with following health measures will allow the province to get back to normal so we can enjoy “a great Alberta summer.”

Kenney urged against non-essential travel and says officials will continue to watch the numbers to see the result of restrictions such as the closure of indoor dining on April 6.

He says they are watching for potential increases from Easter.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who got her first AstraZeneca vaccine dose today, echoed Kenney’s urging that people get vaccinated when they can.

She says the U.K. variant, the B.1.1.7 strain is now the dominant strain in Alberta, which means transmission can happen much easier and can happen faster than ever before.

The chief medical officer of health also says they are seeing growth of P.1 Brazilian variant cases with community transmission in many parts of the province.

With the number of first doses ramping up, Hinshaw said thoughts have turned to second doses.

“Once we finish offering first doses to all Albertans 16 and over, we will start second doses as soon as our supply allows,” says Hinshaw. “This will likely be in later June, based on our current supply estimates.”

There are 107 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat now has had 731 total cases – the 107 active, 607 recovered and there have been 17 deaths.

There are four new cases in the city and 10 new recoveries today.

Across the province, there are 18,481 active cases, up 57 from Monday, and 153,002 recovered cases, up 1,283.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 173,531.

There have been 18,603 variant cases ID’d in the province, 816 new today. There are 932 in the South Zone.

10,520 active cases (56.9 per cent of total) have been identified as variants of concern.

There are 1,345 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 476 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 105 of which are in ICU, and 2,048 deaths.

The province completed 13,163 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 10.4 per cent.

Alberta has administered 1,196,428 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

There are 9,523 cases in the South Zone. There are 969 active cases and 8,442 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 112.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 30 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 26 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with seven of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has four inpatients, including one in the ICU.

St. Michael’s School remains on AHS Outbreak status after reporting five cases in late March.

Prairie Rose Public Schools announced a confirmed case connected to Bow Island Elementary School on Monday, adding to a growing list of Prairie Rose schools with cases.

Three positive cases of COVID-19 were connected to Irvine School over the weekend. These cases are in addition to one case connected to Irvine School on the previous weekend.

Positive COVID-19 cases have also been connected to Medicine Hat’s River Heights School and Seven Persons School in Cypress County.

Ecole Connaught School has confirmed two variant cases. The first case was identified on March 31, the second on April 3.

Sixty-nine students from Eagle Butte High School are quarantining after a positive case was confirmed at the school two weeks ago. The individual was confirmed last week to have a variant strain of the virus.

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

The province-wide reproductive value from last week is 1.09. It is 1.06 in Calgary Zone, 1.11 in Edmonton Zone and 1.10 in the rest of Alberta. These figures are updated each Monday.

Cypress County has totaled 200 cases – 39 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 141 total cases. There are 10 active cases, 128 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 468 total cases — 48 active cases, 414 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 73 total cases – four active cases, 68 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,377 total cases — 10 active cases and 1,353 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 175 cases — 12 active cases, 161 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 239 total cases. There are 54 active cases, 182 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 3,899 cases. There are 470 active cases, 3,395 recovered and there have been 34 deaths. Lethbridge County has 870 cases, 128 active cases, 733 recovered and there have been nine deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day April 19, 2021.”

Read the full April 20 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 38,6511 cases, 2,640 considered active. There are 35,546 recovered cases and there have been 465 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 357,447 doses of vaccine.