Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

1,500+ new COVID cases again Monday, possible restrictions coming

Nov 23, 2020 | 2:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta Health Services has released Monday’s report on COVID-19, covering statistics from the past 24 hours.

1,549 cases were confirmed across the province today, bringing the total to 48,421. Of those, 13,166 cases are active and 34,779 people have recovered.

“As Chief Medical Officer of Health, my role is to provide advice to government on how to protect the health of Albertans,” says Dr. Deena Hinshaw. “Today, I will meet with the Priorities Implementation Committee of cabinet to discuss a series of new measures to reduce the rising spread of COVID-19. Based on their decisions, we will provide a detailed update to Albertans [Tuesday].”

With COVID cases surging in the last two months in Alberta, Dr. Hinshaw says contact tracers have been unable to keep up with case notifications.

As a result, there has been a growing backlog of instances where people have tested positive for the virus but have not received a call from AHS.

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“In order to maximize the effectiveness of the team, I have asked AHS to start with the most recently-diagnosed cases and work backwards, trying to reach as many cases as possible but prioritizing the cases which will have the greatest benefit in reducing transmission.”

“Therefore, as a temporary measure effective [Tuesday], if 10 days have passed since an Albertan received their positive COVID-19 test results, AHS will no longer call these individuals to conduct case investigations and contact tracing.”

Instead, they will get a text message notifying them to not expect a call as well as when their isolation period will end.

The ever-growing backlog also means the province might not be able to track every case that might be linked to schools in the last two weeks.

“School-aged children will continue to be part of the priority calls in the most recent cases.”

As for cases among healthcare and continuing care workers, they are not expected to be impacted by the backlog as they are monitored through a separate mechanism.

Local and regional COVID case numbers have not been available since Friday. In the three days since, 182 cases were identified in the South Health Zone with 47 of those in Lethbridge.

Elsewhere in the region, 37 cases were confirmed in Medicine Hat, 23 in the M.D. of Taber, and 22 in Lethbridge County.

There have been four deaths in the South Zone in the last three days with two each in the M.D. of Taber and Brooks. Details on the patients are not available.

To date, 476 Albertans have died from COVID-19.

Provincially, 328 patients are currently hospitalized and 62 have been admitted to intensive care units.

The regional breakdown for COVID-19 in Alberta, including numbers for the past three days, is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 20,183 cases, 4,845 active
  • 186 deaths (five new)
  • 105 in hospital, 14 in ICU
• Edmonton zone – 19,151 cases, 5,991 active
  • 194 deaths (five new)
  • 163 in hospital, 39 in ICU
• South zone – 3,528 cases, 664 active
  • 40 deaths (four new)
  • 25 in hospital, five in ICU
• North zone – 3,264 cases, 748 active
  • 44 deaths (one new)
  • 17 in hospital, two in ICU
• Central zone – 2,110 cases, 812 active
  • 12 deaths
  • 18 in hospital, two in ICU

The breakdown for the South Health Zone by community, including numbers for the past three days, is as follows:

• Brooks – 1,267 cases (16 new), 44 active, 13 deaths (two new)
• Lethbridge – 882 cases (47 new), 176 active, seven deaths
  • West Lethbridge – 341 cases (13 new), 51 active, two deaths
  • South Lethbridge – 299 cases (15 new), 64 active, three deaths
  • North Lethbridge – 242 cases (19 new), 61 active, two deaths
• Lethbridge County – 293 cases (22 new), 75 active, two deaths
• Medicine Hat – 219 cases (37 new), 101 active, two deaths
• M.D. of Taber – 199 cases (23 new), 106 active, two deaths (two new)
• Cardston County – 155 cases (10 new), 33 active, five deaths
• Cypress County – 110 cases (11 new), 39 active
• County of Warner – 97 cases (seven new), 16 active, one death
• County of Newell – 95 cases, 23 active, two deaths
• County of Forty Mile – 95 cases (two new), 23 active, one death
• Fort Macleod – 47 cases (one new), 10 active, three deaths
• M.D. of Pincher Creek – 35 cases (three new), five active, two deaths
• Crowsnest Pass – Five cases, two active