COVID-19 Weekly Regional Update
Michelle Pinon
News Advertiser
Dr. Deena Hinshaw gave an update on October 20. In Alberta there were 3,203 active cases; and 19,500 recovered cases. There were 116 people in the hospital, with 16 people in intensive care. There have been 293 deaths. The number of completed tests were 1,653,361 and 1,197,204 people have been tested.
In Vegreville/Minburn County, there were: 8 cases, 0 active cases, 8 recovered cases, and 0 deaths. In Two Hills County, there were: 18 cases, 0 active cases, 17 recovered cases, and 1 death. In Lamont County, there were: 15 cases, 4 active cases, 11 recovered cases, and 0 deaths. In Tofield, (Beaver County West) there were: 21 cases, 3 active cases, 18 recovered cases, and 0 deaths. In Viking, (Beaver County East) there were: 74 cases, 0 active cases, 74 recovered cases, and 0 deaths.
There were 512 confirmed cases in schools. Of those, 99 schools with total cases are on alert. Outbreaks are declared in schools when there are two or more confirmed cases. Of those, 26 are on watch as they have more than five cases each. A total of 109 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.
Dr. Hinshaw strongly urged Albertans to make appointments at a public health clinic or participating pharmacy to have a flu shot this season. A record 1.96 million doses of vaccine have been ordered.
Asymptomatic COVID-19 testing has been put on hold in order to help reduce testing wait times, speed up results and limit the spread. “Only 0.11 per cent of more than 659,000 tests conducted on asymptomatic Albertans with no known exposure have come back positive,” stated Hinshaw.
“Testing remains readily available for any Albertan with symptoms, as well as anyone who has no symptoms but is a close contact or is linked to an outbreak. As of Oct. 20, AHS and pharmacies will not book new appointments for Albertans seeking asymptomatic testing. All existing appointments will be honoured until Nov. 4.”
