St. Albert COVID-19 cases soared to 138 active cases over the weekend, the highest the city has seen since the start of the pandemic.
On Monday afternoon, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw announced the province’s most deadly day from the virus, with 20 deaths in 24 hours.
In St. Albert, the active COVID-19 numbers jumped over the weekend, up from 109 active cases on Friday to 138 cases on Monday. Forty new cases were diagnosed over the weekend with 11 people recovering from the illness.
The previous high for the city was 125 cases on Oct. 28.
Across the province, COVID-19 diagnoses hit a new peak over the weekend, with 1,026 cases announced on Saturday, a record high for the province, and 991 cases diagnosed on Sunday.
The St. Albert Retirement Residence has 33 residents still listed as positive for COVID-19 and completing an isolation period, which brings the total to 52 positive COVID-19 cases amid residents from the start of the outbreak. Four people have died in the residence, two are currently in the hospital and 13 no longer have COVID-19. There are two staff members who are currently positive, bringing the total of staff COVID-19 cases to 15, with 13 of them recovered.
Overall, there have been 67 cases in the facility since the outbreak, including staff.
In Alberta, an additional 860 new cases were diagnosed in the previous 24 hours, bringing the provincial total up to 10,031 cases, with 264 people in the hospital and 57 of those in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“These are not just numbers. These are people. As our cases rise, our deaths will rise,” Hinshaw said.
“These measures in place right now are literally life or death,”
Of the deaths in the last 24 hours, four people were in their 60s, three were in their 70s, six were in their 80s, six were in their 90s and one woman was over 100 years old. Some 14 of those deaths were linked to continuing care homes or health care facilities.
The current testing positivity rate in the province is sitting at seven per cent and in the last 24 hours Alberta ran 12,000 tests.
There are currently 309 schools with alerts or outbreaks and a total of 1,046 cases in school. There has been transmission confirmed in 151 schools.
Hinshaw called on Albertans to redouble their efforts to slow to spread of the virus, asking people to stay home if they are sick, wash their hands, wear masks and social distance.
“These rising numbers we are seeing (are) straining our system in many ways,” Hinshaw said.
For every case diagnosed in the province, Hinshaw said the person has an average of 15 close contacts. With cases now hitting the 1,000 per day mark, Hinshaw said that means around 15,000 people have to be contacted every day, which is overwhelming the system. Until the province can hire more contract tracers, Albertans are asked to inform their own close contacts of their exposure to COVID-19.
Hinshaw said COVID-19 is not the seasonal flu and said the dangers and precautions that must be taken around COVID-19 strain the medical system.
“COVID is more dangerous than influenza both at an individual level and a population level,” Hinshaw said.
Hinshaw said COVID-19 impacts staffing at hospitals with members who have been exposed having to isolate and quarantine after an exposure, those with any symptoms having to stay home and as community transmission increases, healthcare workers become more exposed.
The top doctors said with outbreaks in continuing care facilities, residents cannot be transported from acute care, causing bottlenecks in the healthcare system.
“This is not an influenza season, this is a global pandemic,” Hinshaw said, adding there have been no influenza cases confirmed this season and Albertans have been getting the flu shot more than an average year.
“We are in second wave at this point in time."
Sturgeon County currently has 47 active cases. In Morinville, there are 27 active cases of COVID-19.
