COVID-19 Weekly Regional Update
Michelle Pinon
News Advertiser
As of Oct. 5 there were 19,211 confirmed cases; 1,900 active cases; and 17,030 recovered cases. There were 61 people in hospital, with 13 in intensive care. There have been 281 deaths. The number of completed tests were 1,442,603 (17,654 on Oct. 5) and 1,078,066 people have been tested.
In Vegreville/Minburn County, there were: 8 cases, 0 active, 8 recovered, and 0 deaths. In Two Hills County, there were: 18 cases, 0 active, 17 recovered, and 1 death. In Lamont County there were: 11 cases, 1 active, 10 recovered, and 0 deaths. In Tofield, (Beaver County West) there were: 18 cases, 3 active, 15 recovered, and 0 deaths. In Viking, (Beaver County East) there were: 74 cases, 0 active, 74 recovered, and 0 deaths.
There were 319 confirmed cases in 149 schools. Of those, 84 schools with 106 total cases are on alert. Outbreaks are declared in 65 schools with 213 total cases. Of those, 10 are on watch with more than five cases each. A total of 43 schools have now been removed from the alert list since the school year began.
Schools in the County of Two Hills, County of Minburn, Lamont County, and Beaver County do not have outbreaks, (five or more cases) at this time.
During Dr. Hinshaw’s briefing Oct. 5 she stated, “As always, I want to remind everyone that we define an outbreak as two confirmed cases in a school. Our intention is to be as cautious as possible while acting quickly to take measures to limit the spread, even after only a couple of cases.
Declaring that a school has an outbreak does not mean that school is unsafe. In fact, in-school transmission has likely contributed to one or more cases in only 18 schools – in 15 of which, this is only 1 case.”
Dr. Hinshaw also discussed the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. Hinshaw stated, “Particularly with the rising numbers we have seen over the past few days, I want to reiterate my strong recommendation for safe Thanksgiving events this weekend.
I know that many are planning for gatherings this weekend. And I sympathize with the desire to be with the people we love most to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for. However, this is not a normal Thanksgiving.
I urge you to keep your gatherings limited only to your household and cohort members, no more. I ask that you keep your gatherings as small as possible, eat outdoors if possible, and don’t share serving spoons or dishes.
As I said earlier, if you are even slightly sick, don’t go to a Thanksgiving event and don’t host one in your home. The greatest tragedy would be to have Thanksgiving dinner turn into an opportunity for COVID to spread to our loved ones, potentially with severe consequences.
Let’s celebrate all that we are thankful for by protecting each other, not taking chances.”