South zone cases surpass Edmonton

The south zone now has the highest number of COVID-19 cases other than Calgary.

That number was 599 on Sunday, surpassing Edmonton at 479, which used to have the second most.

The number of people hospitalized at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital now stands at five with one of those cases in the ICU. This also happens to be the total number in hospital for the entire south zone, which includes Lethbridge and Brooks.

In one week the number of COVID-19 cases in Brooks went from 102 on April 9 to 540 on April 26.

There are also now two outbreaks at seniors’ residences in the south zone.

Both are located in Brooks: Orchard Manor and Sunrise Gardens. Neither Alberta Health Services nor Alberta Health have released the number of cases in those facilities. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, has stated there needs to be at least two cases for it to constitute an outbreak.

According to numbers released on Sunday, there were 540 cases of COVID-19 in Brooks. Medicine Hat is next in the south zone with 25 cases and of those only 14 are still active. Lethbridge has 12 cases, of which four are still active.

The south zone still accounts for the lowest number of COVID-19 tests, 7,236, in the province. There have been 10,083 tests in the north zone, 11,032 in the central zone, 38,429 in Edmonton and 55,966 in Calgary.

Of the nearly 5,000 cases of COVID in Alberta, close to 500 are suspected of being “community spread.”

Across the province there have been 16 cases in babies not even 12 months old, 90 cases between one year and four years of age, 84 between the ages of five and nine, 337 cases between 10 and 19 years of age and 582 among those 20 to 29 years old.

The highest number of tests done are those in the 40 to 59 year age bracket.

Currently 3.35 per cent of COVID-19 tests done across the province are positive. In the south zone that number is much higher, 7.03 per cent. In Calgary it is 5.27 per cent.