By Chris Brown

45 new cases in city, 1,660 in province

COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions continue to rise in Medicine Hat

Sep 23, 2021 | 3:57 PM

Alberta continues to face unprecedented challenges to its health system in the fourth wave of COVID-19, driven by unvaccinated people.

“100 per cent of new ICU admissions were in Albertans who did not have any vaccine protection,” said chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

She said Albertans who are not fully vaccinated are about 15-times more likely than those with vaccine protection to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and about 40-time more likely to be admitted to the ICU. About 77 per cent of Albertans in hospital and 92 per cent of those in ICU have not been fully vaccinated.

An average of 23 people per day have been admitted to ICU in the past five days, said Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu.

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“It’s tragic that we are only able to keep pace with these sort of numbers because in part some of our ICU patients have passed away,” she said.

Hinshaw also addressed persistent questions and rumours on social media that vaccines are not working against the delta variant

“This is categorically untrue,” said Hinshaw, adding that in Alberta vaccines have proven to be 85 per cent effective against the delta variant after two doses.

She said no vaccine is 100 per cent effective and a very small percentage of fully vaccinated people could still get COVID if exposed to the disease.

She said that as has been the case this week, the majority of the new deaths were people who were not vaccinated at all. A small number were people who were double vaccinated with pre-existing health conditions.

There are 665 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Thursday.

Medicine Hat has had 3,562 total cases – the 665 active, 2,849 recovered and there have been 48 deaths.

There are 45 new cases in the city today and 53 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Thursday that there are currently 105 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 28 of those in the ICU. There are 47 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with 11 in the ICU.

Alberta Health Services confirmed Wednesday that in the past week four ICU surge beds have been added at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Later the same day, a nurse at the hospital said those four beds were already filled.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 43 with 17 in the ICU. Brooks Health Centre has four inpatients; Cardston Health Centre, Bow Island Health Centre and Pincher Creek Heath Centre have three each; Big Country Hospital in Oyen and the Crowsnest Pass Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 77.6 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 68.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

67.4 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 59.9 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 20,180 active cases in the province, down 124 from Wednesday, and 263,915 recovered cases in the province, up 1,767.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 286,706.

There are 1,660 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours, and 397 new variant of concern cases.

There are now a record 1,058 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 226 of which are in ICU, and 2,611 deaths.

The province completed 17,896 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 9.4 per cent.

Alberta has administered 5,896,827 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Hinshaw said it is strongly recommended that any unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people should quarantine for 14 days after exposure to a positive COVID case in their household.

“Living in the same home as someone with COVID puts you at the highest risk of becoming infected and furthering spreading the virus to others,” she said.

She said this recommendation is for household close contact only, not classmates, in school or workplaces as there are already other health measures in place for those settings.

She added they are watching the evidence closely to see when vaccinations can be opened to those under 12 years of age.

With an increase in cases in young people and teenagers, Yiu said AHS will support schools to provide immunizations at temporary in-school clinics to make getting immunized easier for those who are eligible.

She said the clinics will run during and after school hours and advised parents to take advantage of the clinics and complete the consent forms as soon as possible.

Among new cases today, 73.9 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.1 per cent are partially vaccinated and 21.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 76.1 per cent are unvaccinated, 3.3 per cent are partially vaccinated and 20.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The number of local outbreaks listed on AHS website has been rising across the city in the past weeks. Moduline and the Salvation Army Shelter, Montessori Children’s House of Medicine Hat and Nature’s Way Learning Centre were added last week.

Province-wide, 82 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 73.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 69.8 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 62.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

There are 2,178 active cases and 16,021 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 188.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Sept. 13-19 is 1.04. It is 0.94 in Calgary Zone, 0.97 in Edmonton Zone and 1.15 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Aug. 30-Sept. 5 the numbers were 1.12 in the province, 1.14 in Calgary Zone, 1.09 in Edmonton Zone and 1.12 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 708 cases. There are 124 active cases, 582 recovered and two deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 59.1 per cent, the two-dose rate is 51.3.

The County of Forty Mile has 228 total cases. There are 47 active cases, 178 recovered and there have been three deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 34.7 per cent, the two-dose rate is 29.6.

The MD of Taber has 950 total cases — 180 active cases, 760 recovered and there have been 10 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 41.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 36.4.

Special Areas No. 2 has 180 total cases – 39 active cases, 140 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,851 total cases — 140 active cases and 1,694 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 17 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 360 cases — 48 active cases, 308 recovered and there have been four deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 57.6 per cent, the two-dose rate is 49.4. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 588 total cases. There are 75 active cases, 510 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 52.7 per cent, the two-dose rate is 45.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 5,881 cases. There are 464 active cases, 5,372 recovered and there have been 45 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,567 cases, 142 active cases, 1,411 recovered and there have been 14 deaths.

Not all the areas on the vaccination data map match the case count map.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Sept. 22, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 63,875 cases, 4,715 considered active. There are 58,502 recovered cases and there have been 658 COVID-19 deaths in the province.