Hinshaw urges all Albertans to follow rules over holidays
Alberta's daily COVID-19 case count could break into the 2,000s if current regulations are not followed over the holidays, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said at a Friday update.
The province's chief medical officer of health reiterated that evidence shows indoor social gatherings where people are in close contact as they share food and drinks can quickly spread COVID-19. Hinshaw warned the province could see a large increase in daily infections if Albertans gather for Christmas, as they did for Thanksgiving.
“That kind of setting is exactly the setting where COVID-19 spreads quickly and easily,” Hinshaw said. “We only had roughly between 200 and 300, it was a little more than 200 new cases a day before Thanksgiving. So just imagine the same kind of accelerating factor going into Christmas.”
While noting that data on restriction compliance is difficult to track, Hinshaw said she has heard polling data shows about 80 per cent of Albertans agree with the province's ban on social gatherings.
Heading into the final weekend before Christmas, Hinshaw urged Albertans to use curbside pickup as much as possible and to avoid going to malls during peak hours.
“I'm asking all Albertans to stay the course. We need to make good decisions for each other, for our communities, for our families and our loved ones, and for ourselves,” Hinshaw said.
Hinshaw's warnings came as she announced 25 more deaths across the province, including a woman in her 20s with no known comorbidities. Friday's death count comes a day after the province recorded 30 fatalities on Thursday, the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic.
There have been 131 reported COVID-19 deaths in Alberta since last Friday. By comparison, 134 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded between March 13 and May 22.
There have now been 815 deaths in Alberta since the start of the pandemic.
Hinshaw announced 1,413 new cases Friday, bringing the number of active infections to 19,607. The Edmonton Zone continues to have the highest number of those cases, with 9,376. There are 759 people being treated for COVID-19 in Alberta hospitals, 141 of them in intensive care.
Hinshaw said Alberta is currently experiencing a plateau in new cases, noting Tuesday's 1,286 new cases was the province's lowest since Nov. 26. Friday's active case count is the lowest it has been since Dec. 5.
However, the chief medical officer of health warned that the fight against COVID-19 is far from over and people need to continue to follow the rules.
“We expect that hospitalizations and ICU admissions will continue to rise in the coming weeks, as these are lagging indicators, meaning that it takes several weeks before changes in our case counts are seen in the demands felt in our acute-care system,” Hinshaw said. “We have seen COVID-19 cases level or dip before, only to rise again. The positive indicators we are seeing can be reversed in a matter of days.”
Meanwhile, Edmonton Public Schools announced 10 schools have reported a single case over the past two days. Edmonton Catholic Schools reported a single case at seven schools.
The school boards will not be updating numbers for the rest of 2020 as schools go on break for the holidays.