Red Deer’s COVID-19 cases continue to climb, with 137 active cases of the virus identified on Thursday.
This is 19 more active cases than the 118 that were reported Wednesday, according to geospatial mapping on the provincial government’s website. Since the start of the pandemic, Red Deer has reported 5,797 recovered cases and 43 deaths.
The Government of Alberta identified 817 new cases of the virus across the province. Of these new cases, 99.76 per cent are in unvaccinated people, 0.2 per cent are partially vaccinated and zero per cent are fully vaccinated.
There are now 6,367 active COVID-19 cases in the province, to go along with 233,539 recovered cases. Of these active cases, about 77 per cent are in people who haven’t received any vaccine, while about 10.4 per cent are in partially vaccinated people and 12.4 per cent are fully vaccinated individuals.
Four new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, including two deaths from within central zone, bringing the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 2,342.
NDP deputy leader Sarah Hoffman called on Premier Jason Kenney to address Albertans about rising case numbers.
“Cases numbers are almost 10 times higher today than they were on this day last year. Hospitalizations are more than four times higher, and ICU admissions are three and a half times higher,” said Hoffman in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“All these indicators are rising at a time when we should expect them to be falling. Alberta has the highest rate of infection and the highest number of active cases of any Canadian province.
“These rising numbers appear to be driven by the delta variant of COVID-19, and it’s reasonable to assume that when hundreds of thousands of Albertans go back to school that the spread will accelerate.”
Hoffman said she was disappointed that Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw did not reveal the modelling the province is using for its COVID policies in a town hall with doctors on Wednesday night.
Sylvan Lake has 47 active cases, while Lacombe has 23 active cases, and Olds has 16. Lacombe County has 39, Stettler County has 18, Clearwater County has 27, Mountain View County has 28, Red Deer County has 32 active cases.
Wetaskiwin has 11 active cases. Wetaskiwin County, including Maskwacis, has 40 active cases, while Rimbey, including West Ponoka County and Partial Lacombe County, has 14, and Ponoka, including East Ponoka County, has 13.
The City of Camrose has 14 active cases, Camrose County has nine, Kneehill County has 10, and Drumheller has seven.
Overall the central zone has 551 active cases, with 21 people in hospital and four in intensive care.
Provincially, 198 people are currently hospitalized by COVID-19, with 43 of those individuals in an intensive care unit.
To date, 68.3 per cent of eligible Albertans age 12 and up are fully vaccinated, with 77.1 per cent receiving at least one dose. So far 5,469,437 dozes of vaccine have been administered in the province.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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