Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-covid-coronavirus-october-20-1.6217773
Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Wednesday, Oct. 20
A total of 3,006 Albertans have died of COVID-19
CBC News · Posted: Oct 20, 2021 7:51 AM MT | Last Updated: 26 minutes ago
The latest on COVID-19 in Alberta:
A total of 3,006 Albertans have died of COVID, with 18 new deaths reported Wednesday.
Of the 18 deaths reported, 72 per cent were unvaccinated, the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, tweeted Wednesday.
Alberta reported 786 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday out of 12,114 tests.
The positivity rate was 6.7 per cent.
The total number of active cases in Alberta is 10,824.
Alberta has seen a drop in known active COVID-19 cases since the start of October, when there were 20,215. But federal data shows Alberta still leads the country by a large margin.
Hinshaw tweeted Wednesday that there are now 928 people in hospital due to COVID-19. Of the 725 non-ICU patients, 70.7 per cent are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Of the 203 in ICU, 90.1 per cent are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
Alberta is reporting an R-value below 1. The R-value is the average number of COVID-19 infections transmitted by each diagnosed case.
An R-value below 1 means transmission is no longer growing. Provincewide, the R-value for Oct. 11 to Oct. 17 was 0.85, with a confidence interval between 0.83 and 0.88.
301,155 Albertans are considered to have recovered from COVID-19.
Premier Jason Kenney said Kenney said Tuesday that 75 per cent of intensive care beds in the province were occupied by people infected with COVID-19, which is down from 97 per cent reported just over six weeks ago. But he added, "There are still more COVID patients in hospital today than during the peak of any other wave. It'll take many weeks for this to decline significantly."
Unlike last Thanksgiving, the premier said, early indications show the number of infections has not spiked after the holiday. "Although we need to keep watching over the next few days, as it's a little too early to see completely the full impact," he said.
ICU capacity, including 203 additional surge beds, is currently at 75 per cent. Without the additional surge spaces, ICU capacity in Alberta would be at 163 per cent, AHS said.
Doctors are resuming some surgeries after bookings had been scaled back by 75 per cent. But there is no timeline on when the province will be able to return to normal surgical volumes.
The Alberta government has released an app to scan and verify QR code vaccine records. The AB COVID Records Verifier app is available to download on Apple and Android devices.
Albertans can get their enhanced vaccine records with a QR code online at alberta.ca/CovidRecords.
Alberta Health Services says that its scientific advisory group has updated its review into using ivermectin to treat COVID-19. AHS said existing studies have problems and the available evidence doesn't deem it safe.
On Oct.14 , Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said Alberta hospitals have seen people with extreme adverse effects after taking ivermectin...