COVID-19 Weekly Regional Update
Michelle Pinon
News Advertiser
Provincially, there were 112,743 cases as of Jan. 12. There were 13,220 active cases, 98,178 recovered cases, 819 in hospital and 132 in intensive care, and 1,345 deaths.
Regionally there were 490 cases, 71 active cases, 416 recovered cases, and 3 deaths in Smoky Lake County. There were 104 cases, 8 active cases, 94 recovered cases, and 2 deaths.
Veg/Minburn County 133 cases, 28 active cases, 102 recovered cases, and 3 deaths in Two Hills County.
There were 70 cases, 11 active cases, 59 recovered cases, and 0 deaths in Lamont County.
There were 83 cases, 11 active cases, 71 recovered cases, and 1 death in Tofield (Beaver County West).
There were 86 cases, 3 active cases, 82 recovered cases, and 1 death in Viking (Beaver County East).
In respect to testing, a total of 2,950,446 tests were completed with 1,697,614 people tested and 52,318 vaccine doses have been administered. According to the Province by the end of January, Alberta will have capacity to administer 50,000 doses of vaccine per week.
Premier Kenney stated on Jan. 11 “We are ramping up our capacity to ensure no matter how many vaccines arrive in Alberta, there are people lined up ready to receive them and health-care workers ready to administer them. Alberta is already a leader in the number of doses delivered – and we will continue to ramping-up our vaccination efforts for the benefit of all Albertans. Our main constraint is the available supply of vaccines.”
Health Minister Tyler Shandro stated, “Expanding eligibility to more health-care workers – including EMS – helps us protect more vulnerable Albertans. Dedicated health-care staff around the province play a critical role in our fight to contain the spread of the virus. By vaccinating those who are directly caring for our most vulnerable, we will save lives.”
According to the Province, Health-care workers who are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine include:
- Health-care workers in COVID-19 units, medical and surgical units, and operating rooms.
- Health-care workers in emergency departments.
- Home-care workers.
- Staff of long-term care and designated supportive living facilities.
- Respiratory therapists.
- Paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
Outreach will continue for residents of long-term care and designated supportive living facilities as a priority population.
By opening eligibility to all health-care workers in Phases 1A and 1B – and by paramedic adding and emergency medical technicians – more appointments will be filled, ensuring vaccine is administered to more people, faster.