EDMONTON — COVID-19 transmission appears to be on the rise in Alberta with positivity rates and wastewater data trending upward, the province’s health minister cautioned Thursday.
Jason Copping hesitated to say whether the province may be headed into a sixth wave, but he warned that case rates are expected to go up as Albertans continue living with fewer public health restrictions.
“Since last Wednesday, there has been a slight increase in our leading indicators — the positivity rate on PCR tests and virus levels in wastewater,” Copping said.
He said wastewater data from March 29 to Monday shows more of the virus circulating in several areas of the province.
“It’s not a spike we saw in late December and early January, and in some centres we’re seeing the data fluctuate around a level that’s in between the extremes of the past few months,” Copping said.
“So, it’s a concern and we’re monitoring it closely, but it remains to be seen how much more of an increase we’ll see, and, in particular, how that will translate to serious illness and hospital admissions.”
Copping said the United Conservative Party government is not considering any more public health measures because it is not expecting case rates and hospitalizations to reach levels that would put further stress on the health-care system.
Earlier this week, Quebec and Prince Edward Island extended their provincial mask mandates until later this month as they try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The decisions came several days after the Public Health Agency of Canada said a resurgence of COVID-19 appears to be underway and encouraged Canadians to be vigilant to help curb spread of the Omicron BA. 2 subvariant.
Copping has said that subvariant accounts for 80 per cent of positive cases in Alberta, making it the dominant strain.
The province, which has moved to a once-a-week reporting schedule, reported 30 new COVID-19 deaths between March 29 and Monday. A total of 4,104 people in Alberta have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the provincial chief medical officer of health, said the daily positivity rate of PCR tests as of Monday was 32.05 per cent. The weekly rolling average as of Monday was 26.36 per cent.
She said there were 990 people in hospital with COVID-19 during that time frame, including 44 patients in intensive care.
“Given the transmissibility of BA. 2 and the upward trend in our leading indicators, we can expect to see a further increase of COVID-19 cases in the coming days and weeks,” Hinshaw said.
“I encourage every Albertan to keep this in mind as we go about our routines and activities in the days ahead.”
On Wednesday, Alberta joined some other provinces in expanding the eligibility requirements for a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Beginning Tuesday, those who are ages 70 and older as well as First Nations, Métis and Inuit people 65 and older can get the second booster shot.