COVID-19 update: No lifting of restrictions yet

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw has noticed that Alberta’s COVID-19 downward trajectory of cases is beginning to taper off and more cases of the virus are becoming identified.

She noted that the biggest increase of cases has been noted in Albertans over the age of 30. She believes there are multiple reasons why that may be the case including a few more outbreaks, the newly lifted restrictions, and other reasons.

“There are about a third of them where at this point they were not able to pinpoint exactly where that disease was acquired. So we are still seeing some community transmission trends that unfortunately were not able to exactly identify the source and that often happens where people have multiple activities where they may have been in close contact with people over the course of the two weeks before their infection,” said Hinshaw.

Because of the plateau, Hinshaw noted that Albertans cannot expect a decision on further lifting restrictions until early next week.

“I know that many people have questions about when Alberta will move to step two of easing restrictions. We are below the step two thresholds of hospitalizations but we have seen growing cases in recent days. With that in mind, we will be taking the full three weeks to assess the data and assess the data the best way forward. No decisions prior to step two will be made prior to March 1st,” explained Hinshaw.

During the update, Hinshaw wanted to turn attention to some of the positive COVID-19 statistics:

92% decline in COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities
88% decline in COVID-19 designated supportive living facilities
On January 2, 2021 there were 27 acute care outbreaks and today (February 22,2021) there are only 8
65% decline in COVID-19 cases in school-aged Albertans
The average high of COVID-19 related deaths was 167 deaths per week at the end of December, now sits at 23 over the last seven days

“These trends were not inevitable and not due to the passing of time. These trends were the result of our willingness to put our community’s needs first and care for each other every day. The progress we have made is not guaranteed to last unless our actions stay consistent,” added the doctor.