EDMONTON —
Alberta Health confirmed a record 800 new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Thursday, prompting its chief medical officer of health to issue an ultimatum: without a decline in active cases, more action will be needed to protect Alberta’s health-care system.
The province has set and broken its daily record numerous times in the past two weeks, recently reporting 622 cases on Oct. 29 and 592 cases on Nov. 1. But never 800.
“It means that the measures we introduced 10 days ago, which may have helped cases plateau over the last few days, are not having enough of an effect,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in an afternoon update.
“It means that in about seven to 10 days from now, our hospital numbers will rise further, which means that care for Albertans with other issues besides COVID will be impacted.”
Her department couldn’t report exact numbers due to “internal discrepancies” in its reporting system, but said its ability to identify and follow up with new cases was unaffected.
However, Hinshaw said Alberta Health Services’ ability to trace new cases is being outpaced by the rate of transmission, and as such, AHS will have to focus on “high-priority settings” cases until more contract tracers can be hired.
“AHS does not currently have the capacity to call every contact of every case in a timely way,” Hinshaw commented.
“Every confirmed case will still get a phone call to identify whether or not they have a link to a high-priority setting, like a continuing care facility, a health care setting, or a school. If a case attended a group event, like a wedding, a party, or a group fitness class while infectious, or if this could have been the source of their infection, the organizer of these events will still be contacted to ensure attendees are notified,” she explained.
If a case isn’t linked to a high-priority setting, they will be given information about calling their own contacts and informing them of the need to isolate and be tested.
A day earlier, the province reported 6,230 active cases across Alberta, keeping 164 Albertans in hospital.
On Thursday, Hinshaw said Alberta’s two largest cities each have more than 2,500 cases, and a “high proportion” of cases who worked or went to a social gathering while symptomatic.
In Edmonton, nine per cent of active cases worked while they had symptoms. Another eight per cent visited retail or service businesses. Another eight per cent went to a social gathering.
In Calgary, 11 per cent worked while symptomatic. Another nine per cent travelled. Another seven per cent attended a social gathering.
“We are talking about at least 500 people who did not stay home while symptomatic. This is significant. I am calling on Albertans to please stop all activities if you have any symptoms,” Hinshaw urged Albertans.
In each city, an estimated 40 per cent of cases were exposed at home or at a gathering.
