Active COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat up by 16

Across Alberta, there are 20,938 active cases, up 217 from Tuesday, and 163,668 recovered cases, up 1,616.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 186,679

There have been 27,921 variant cases ID’d in the province, 1,058 new today. There are 1,383 in the South Zone.

13,193 active cases (63.2 per cent of total) have been identified as variants of concern.

There are 1,839 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 643 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 145 of which are in ICU, and 2,073 deaths.

The province completed 18,976 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 9.8 per cent.

Alberta has administered 1,497,256 of vaccine at the latest update.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw’s next update will be later this week.

Earlier Wednesday, Alberta government said it will direct shipments of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Banff and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, when the shipments arrive on Monday.

Both have become COVID-19 hot spots in recent days.

The province will also lower the age eligibility for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from 40 to 30 in the two regions.

The Moderna vaccine will also be made available to Indigenous people in Wood Buffalo as young as 30.

There are 10,175 cases in the South Zone. There are 1,030 active cases and 9,028 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 117.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 36 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 27 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with nine of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has eight inpatients, with two of those in the ICU. The Brooks Health Centre has one inpatient.

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

The Medicine Hat Public School Division announced Tuesday a second case of COVID-19 has been identified at both Alexandra Middle School and Medicine Hat Christian School.

On Friday, the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education announced Notre Dame Academy will transition to online learning from April 26-May 7. Four cases were identified at the school last week and more than a dozen teachers are quarantining. The school is also on AHS Outbreak status.

One case was also identified last week at St. Francis Xavier School and at Ecole St. John Paul II School, says the division.

AHS lists St. Mary’s School on Alert status.

Medicine Hat Public School Division has announced cases at three schools last week. Additional cases were identified at Crescent Heights High School and River Heights Elementary School late on Wednesday.

Crescent Heights and River Heights are on Alert status.

Prairie Rose Public Schools announced a confirmed case connected to Bow Island Elementary School on April 19, adding to a growing list of Prairie Rose schools with cases.

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

There are also positive COVID-19 cases Seven Persons School in Cypress County. It is on AHS Alert status.

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 were in quarantine after a positive case was confirmed at the school three weeks ago. The individual was later confirmed to have a variant strain of the virus.

Brooks Composite High School and Eastbrook Elementary School in the city are on AHS Alert status.

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

The province-wide reproductive value from last week is 1.04. It is 0.98 in Calgary Zone, 1.10 in Edmonton Zone and 1.05 in the rest of Alberta. These figures are updated each Monday.

Cypress County has totaled 224 cases – 44 active cases and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 144 total cases. There are 11 active cases, 130 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 483 total cases — 37 active cases, 441 recovered and there have been five deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 77 total cases – five active cases, 71 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,409 total cases — 40 active cases and 1,355 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 179 cases — nine active cases, 168 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 290 total cases. There are 70 active cases, 217 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 4,125 cases. There are 411 active cases, 3,678 recovered and there have been 36 deaths. Lethbridge County has 951 cases, 118 active cases, 822 recovered and there have been 11 deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day April 27, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 40,614 cases, 2,443 considered active. There are 37,685 recovered cases and there have been 486 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 415,763 doses of vaccine.

by Chris Brown

Active COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat up by 16

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