By Chris Brown

Nine new cases in city, 442 in province

New COVID-19 cases in Medicine Hat down to single digits

Oct 26, 2021 | 4:22 PM

Each day the province reports COVID-19 statistics is another day that the benefits of vaccines become clear, said the province’s chief medical officer of health on Tuesday.

“For example, in the last three months, people over 80 years old who weren’t vaccinated were 12 times more likely to die from COVID than those who were fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

She said that protection improves among younger groups.

“Unvaccinated 70- to 79-year-olds were 52 times more likely to die from COVID in the last three months than those who were fully vaccinated.”

She again urged people who aren’t to get fully vaccinated to protect themselves and those around them.

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“The science is clear: vaccines work, they are safe and they save lives,” said Hinshaw.

She encouraged anyone with questions or concerns to speak to their doctor or a trusted medical advisor.

She also encouraged people to listen to each other without anger, “the more possible it is to open space for ongoing dialogue and understanding each other’s perspective.

Hinshaw also highlighted the significant increase in vaccinations since the provincial Restrictions Exemption Program (REP) was launched in the middle of September.

“More than 505,000 first doses have been administered in the past six weeks,” she said, reminding that as of yesterday full vaccination is required to access any business, venue or service participating in the REP.

Unvaccinated people can provide a privately-paid negative test from the past 72 hours or valid proof of a medical exemption.

Hinshaw will host a telephone town hall Wednesday to discuss vaccines, fertility and maternal health. It will take place from 6:15-7:45 p.m. Register at alberta.ca/townhall by noon on Wednesday to get the dial-in details.

There are 176 active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.

Medicine Hat has had 4,398 total cases – the 176 active, 4,148 recovered and there have been 74 deaths.

There are nine new cases in the city since Monday and 15 new recoveries.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that there are currently 100 COVID-19 positive inpatients in the South Zone with 22 of those in the ICU. There are 32 inpatients at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with 6 in the ICU.

Chinook Regional Hospital has 49 with 16 in the ICU. Cardston Health Centre has six inpatients; Brooks Health Centre has five; Pincher Creek Heath Centre, Raymond Health Centre, and Taber Health Centre have two each; Bow Island Health Centre and St. Michael’s Health Centre have one each.

Among Hatters 12 and over, 83.2 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 75.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

72.3 per cent of all Hatters have received at least one dose of vaccine at the latest update and 65.6 per cent of Hatters are fully vaccinated.

There are 9,267 active cases in the province, down 214 from Monday, and 308,880 recovered cases in the province, up 644.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 321,210.

There are 442 new cases in the province in the past 24 hours.

There are now 836 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 183 of which are in ICU, and 3,063 deaths.

The province completed 7,786 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 5.7 per cent.

Alberta has administered 6,482,574 doses of vaccine at the latest update.

Among new cases today, 64 per cent are unvaccinated, 3.7 per cent are partially vaccinated and 32.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among current hospitalizations, 70.9 per cent are unvaccinated, 5.3 per cent are partially vaccinated and 23.8 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Province-wide, 86.7 per cent of Albertans 12 years old and up have received at least one dose of vaccine and 79.2 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Among Alberta’s total population, 73.8 per cent have received at least one dose of vaccine and 67.3 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The number of local outbreaks listed on AHS website has been declining across the city and region in the past weeks.

There are no local schools on Outbreak status. Four schools in Medicine Hat are on Alert status, as well as three in the surrounding area.

There are 992 active cases and 20,764 recovered in the South Zone. The death total in the zone is at 260.

The province-wide reproductive value for the week of Oct. 11-17 is 0.85. It is 0.88 in Calgary Zone, 0.85 in Edmonton Zone and 0.84 in the rest of Alberta.

It’s updated every two weeks. At the last update from Sept. 27-Oct. 3 the numbers were 0.92 in the province, 0.93 in Calgary Zone, 0.86 in Edmonton Zone and 0.94 in the rest of Alberta.

Cypress County has totaled 820 cases. There are 21 active cases, 793 recovered and six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 64.1 per cent, the two-dose rate is 57.1.

The County of Forty Mile has 327 total cases. There are 18 active cases, 304 recovered and there have been five deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 39.1 per cent, the two-dose rate is 33.5.

The MD of Taber has 1,211 total cases — 73 active cases, 1,125 recovered and there have been 13 deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 45.8 per cent, the two-dose rate is 40.4.

Special Areas No. 2 has 235 total cases – nine active cases, 224 recovered and there have been two deaths.

Brooks has 2,070 total cases — 31 active cases and 2,016 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 23 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 462 cases — 31 active cases, 425 recovered and there have been six deaths. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 63.9 per cent, the two-dose rate is 55.6. The Newell numbers include the city of Brooks.

The County of Warner has 732 total cases. There are 50 active cases, 678 are recovered cases and there have been four deaths in the county. The latest one-dose vaccination rate for all ages is 57.4 per cent, the two-dose rate is 50.3.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 6,820 cases. There are 317 active cases, 6,448 recovered and there have been 55 deaths. Lethbridge County has 1,881 cases, 104 active cases, 1,760 recovered and there have been 17 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 Oct. 25, 2021.”

Saskatchewan has a total of 76,607 cases, 2,538 considered active. There are 73,242 recovered cases and there have been 827 COVID-19 deaths in the province.