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There are some signs the worrying trend could be abating, including Alberta’s announcement Thursday that there were 76 new cases of the coronavirus in the province, down from 121 Wednesday.
The new cases were the result of about 7,750 tests, equivalent to a one per cent positive rate. They bring Alberta’s running total since the start of the pandemic to 11,969, including 10,713 people who have now officially recovered from the virus.
Active cases in Alberta dipped slightly Thursday to 1,036, with more cases in the Alberta Health Services Edmonton zone (475) than any other provincial health region. The Calgary zone has 314 active cases.
A total of 220 Albertans have now died of COVID-19 after the province reported three new deaths Thursday. One death was of a woman in her 80s at Edmonton’s Good Samaritan Southgate Care Centre, bringing that facility’s toll from the virus to 29, the most of anywhere in Alberta.
The other two deaths were of a man in his 90s at the Heimstaed Seniors Lodge in La Crete, about 670 kilometres north of Edmonton, and another man in his 90s who lived in the Central zone and was not connected to any continuing-care site.
Alberta’s hospitalizations stayed steady Thursday, with 50 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 12 of whom are receiving treatment in intensive-care units.
Aside from the unsteady case numbers, Angus Reid also indicated that the province’s plan for a return to school for K-12 students in September may be partly responsible for the dipping approval rate. Parents and teachers have heavily criticized the plan from Alberta Education, saying measures are insufficient to protect students and teachers given large class sizes and stagnant funding.
