The Alberta government reported 2,268 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday afternoon.
The cases are from over the weekend as well as Monday: 581 on Friday, 525 on Saturday, 592 on Sunday and 570 from Monday.
The figures concern the province’s top doctor.
“This is a large and troubling number – one that drives home the challenge we’re facing,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, on Tuesday afternoon.
Central zone case numbers jumped to 235 from 178 since the last update Friday. To date, 1,112 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the local zone. Of those, 869 people have recovered.
Three people remain in hospital in the central zone and none of them are in intensive care.
To date, the zone has experienced eight virus deaths.
The City of Red Deer now sits at 60 active COVID-19 cases. That’s up 14 from Friday afternoon’s update of 46. The city is on province’s watch list with the rate of active cases per 100,000 people at 56.6.
The virus death toll in Alberta reached 338 – that’s 15 deaths since Friday afternoon.
“This is a heartbreaking number and underscores the seriousness of the pandemic,” said Hinshaw.
The Town of Sylvan Lake sits at six active cases, seven for Red Deer County, three in Lacombe County and five for the City of Lacombe.
The Town of Olds has two active cases, seven for Mountain View County, seven in Clearwater County, 12 in Kneehill County, four for Camrose County and 19 in the City of Camrose.
There are no active cases in the County of Stettler.
According to Alberta’s geospatial map, there are 22 active cases in Ponoka (east Ponoka County), 49 in Wetaskiwin County (Maskwacis), two in Rimbey (West Ponoka County and partial Lacombe County).
The same map shows there are two active cases in Innisfail (south Red Deer County).
Currently, there are 6,110 active cases of the virus in Alberta – up 938 – from 5,172 during the last update. To date, 23,484 people have recovered from COVID.
There are 167 people in hospital across the province, with 27 in intensive care.
Edmonton zone had 100 people in hospital, while Calgary zone had 52. The number of people in intensive care was at 13 and eight, respectively.
“Our lab positivity rate in the province has risen to 6.8 per cent yesterday (Monday), and in Edmonton, the positivity rate is almost nine per cent,” said Hinshaw.
“And Calgary has caught up to Edmonton, with both cities having more than 2,500 active cases each. This is not good news. This is a problem,” said Hinshaw.
“Within the next few days, we will start to see if the recent public health measures, including the limits on social gatherings in Edmonton and Clagary, are enough to reduce the rate of transmission. If they’re not, we must consider other options.”
There are active alerts or outbreaks at 252 schools – that’s 10 per cent of all the schools in the province, Hinshaw said.
These schools have 778 active cases in total. There are 117 schools on outbreaks and 50 on the province’s watch list, which includes Red Deer’s Hunting Hills High School.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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