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

By David Opinko

Province expands COVID-19 testing eligibility, 81 new infections confirmed

Apr 13, 2020 | 3:56 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta gave its latest update on the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced 81 new cases of the virus in the province, bringing the total now to 1,732.

Of those, 877 people have fully recovered.

254 are believed to be the result of community transmission.

Another two deaths were confirmed in Alberta as a result of COVID-19. Both were patients at a continuing care centre in Calgary.

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Dr. Hinshaw says the eligibility for getting a COVID-19 test has been expanded “to anyone in Alberta who has a fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, or sore throat.”

The first step is to stay home if you are sick.

The next is to take the AHS self-assessment. Once you have completed the self-assessment, arrangements will be made to get tested. There is no need to phone 811.

“With this change going forward, we will see a further increase in the number of cases confirmed every day as a result of this testing. We have already seen this increase over the past few days with the expansion we’ve already done.”

She says it is important to note that the daily number of confirmed cases as a percentage of the number of tests being done has remained similar over the last few weeks. Approximately two percent of tests have come back positive.

“Going forward, testing all symptomatic Albertans will give us a more complete picture of trending over time.”

The numbers of COVID-19 cases per regional health zone is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 1,114 cases (32 deaths, two new)
  • 32,322 tests
• Edmonton zone – 399 cases (seven deaths)
  • 25,841 tests
• North zone – 105 cases (six deaths)
  • 6,370 tests
• Central zone – 74 cases (one death)
  • 7,272 tests
• South zone – 33 cases
  • 3,879 tests

For the South Health Zone, the number of cases has increased by two from Sunday’s report.

• Medicine Hat – 11 cases, four recovered
• Lethbridge – nine cases, seven recovered
• Cypress County – six cases (one new)
• M.D. of Taber – two cases
• County of Forty Mile – two cases
• Brooks – two cases
  • For one case, the City of Brooks says one patient has a local address but does not currently live in the community
• Lethbridge County – one case (one new)