Airdrie's active COVID-19 cases have continued to trend upward and now sit at 81 – an increase from 77 active cases on March 4 and 66 active cases on March 2.
According to numbers updated daily on Airdrie.ca, there have been 1,930 total cases reported in the city so far. To date, 1,832 Airdronians have recovered from the virus and 17 deaths have been reported.
- COVID-19 UPDATES: See the latest local and global COVID-19 information.
Locally, Cases are currently confirmed in three Airdrie schools. According to the provincial COVID-19 status map, École Edwards Elementary School, R.J. Hawkey Elementary School and Northcott Prairie School are each listed under "alert" status, meaning they have reported two to four cases each.
Provincially, according to alberta.ca, on March 8, 278 new cases were identified, with a testing positivity rate of 5.4 per cent.
The new numbers mean there were 4,633 active cases in Alberta as of March 8, and a total of 136,119 cases since the pandemic began.
According to the reported provincial numbers, 129,566 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19, 254 patients are in hospital with the virus and 36 Albertans are in intensive care units. In total, 1,920 deaths have been reported in Alberta from COVID-19.
Outside of Airdrie, Rocky View County (RVC) remained at 23 active cases as of March 8. Three schools in RVC are on the provincial COVID-19 status map; Khalsa School Calgary Educational Foundation in Conrich is listed under "outbreak" status, with five to nine active cases, Springbank Middle School is on the list under "alert" status, with two to four cases and Edge School in Springbank has been added to the list under "alert" status.
On the east side of the county, Chestermere reported 16 active cases as of March 8 – a decrease of three since March 3. Chestermere Lake Middle School is listed under "outbreak" status.
Cochrane's COVID-19 numbers continue to rise as the town reported 32 active cases as of March 8 – 20 cases more than were reported in Cochrane on March 2.
Regarding variant COVID-19 cases, Alberta identified 54 additional cases of variants of concern on March 8, bringing the provincial total to 659. These include 646 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant (which originated in the United Kingdom) and 13 cases of the B.1.1351 South African variant.
On the vaccination front, as of March 7, 297,692 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Alberta, according to government figures. To date, 91,027 Albertans are fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine. Since vaccinations in the province started, 125 adverse events following immunization have been reported to Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services.
On March 8, the Alberta government announced it would be entering the full Stage 2 of its 'A Path Forward' plan to ease public health restrictions. Under Stage 2, updated health measures are now in place for retail, hotels and community halls, performance groups, and youth sports, performance and recreation.
Under Stage 2, banquet halls, community hall, conference centres and hotels can open for all activities permitted under Stages 1 and 2, including hosting virtual meetings/conferences/events, permitted performance activities, wedding ceremonies with up to 10 individuals and funeral services up to a maximum of 20 individuals. Wedding receptions, funeral receptions and trade shows are still not permitted.
As for retail, all retail services and shopping malls must limit customer capacity to one-quarter of their fire code occupancies, not including staff members. The previous capacity was 15 per cent.
The government's vaccine rollout continues to ramp up. Starting on March 10, according to Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the Alberta government will begin to offer the vaccine to Albertans aged 64, as well as First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals aged 49 who do not have severe chronic illnesses. The government will offer the vaccines to younger individuals if the supply allows.
"As we will only receive 58,500 doses of Astra-Zeneca this week, we cannot book everyone at once as there are approximately 400,000 Albertans in that age group," Hinshaw said. "This is why we will begin opening bookings based on the year you were born."
This means that on March 10, Albertans born in 1957, (those who are turning 64 this year) can contact Alberta Health Services online or can call 811 to book an appointment.
Hinshaw added that starting next week, 156 additional pharmacies will be available to book appointments outside of Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary, for a total of 258 pharmacies administering vaccines across the province.
While further restrictions will be eased as a result of entering Stage 2, Hinshaw cautioned that Albertans should remain cautious and vigilant in the days and weeks to come.
“COVID-19 remains a serious health threat, and variants of concern can spread more easily if given the chance," she said. "Until we have more vaccine for our population, it is essential that every Albertan continues to be the vaccine for each other.”
