Article content continued
“With any virus, only a fraction of the cases are detected by the health system mainly because people don’t seek treatment because the symptoms are so mild.”
She noted the number of active cases in the province, at 1,494, is down by 91 from the previous day “but it’s still a concerning total.”
In a bid to limit spread of the disease, positive and negative test results will now be available by text message, which is aimed at speeding the notification process, said Hinshaw.
“You can now receive your test results any time, day or night, as soon as the lab result is available,” she said.
“This will be vital to limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the coming days and months.”
In a bid to track down the earliest possible infections in Alberta, health authorities analyzed more than 23,000 test samples screening for other respiratory illnesses from Dec. 1, 2019, and March 7, and detected one case of COVID-19 dating back to Feb. 24.
That’s nine days before the first infection was initially reported on March 5, said Hinshaw.
It was learned that person, who’d been initially tested for influenza, had recently travelled in the U.S.
“Our results highlight the strength of Alberta’s pandemic preparedness and our response in the early days of the pandemic,” said Hinshaw.
She also said it’s difficult to calculate the precise effect the mandatory use of protective masks has had in Edmonton, Calgary and other centres since that order took effect about six weeks ago.
