Airdrie reported six additional COVID-19 cases on Feb. 16, bringing the city's active case count to 76.
According to the airdrie.ca, there have been a total of 1,839 cases locally since the onset of the pandemic. 1,746 Airdronians have recovered from the virus, while 17 deaths have been reported.
Provincially, 263 new cases of COVID-19 were identified on Feb. 16. The new cases mean there are 4,993 active cases in the province, and there have been a total of 129,338 cases since the pandemic began. The test positivity rate on Feb. 16 was five per cent.
Meanwhile, 122,554 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19, 365 patients are in hospital and 56 Albertans are in intensive care units.
In total, 1,791 deaths have been reported in the province due to the virus, with the average age of death being 82.
Cases are currently confirmed in five Airdrie schools. According to the provincial COVID-19 status map, Bert Church High School is still listed under "outbreak" status, with five-to-nine cases of the virus. St. Veronica School, École francophone d'Airdrie and Herons Crossing School are listed under "alert" status, meaning they have reported two to four cases each. Good Shepherd School was added to the list under "alert status" over the long weekend.
George McDougall High School, which has been on the government's map since January, has been lifted from the map.
Locally, the Bethany Care Centre remains the sole local local facility on the government's list of COVID-19 outbreaks. However, according to the retirement home's daily bulletin, there are no longer any residents or employees reported to have COVID-19, as of Feb. 16.
Rocky View County (RVC) is reporting 33 active cases as of Feb. 14 – down one from the previous day. COVID-19 outbreaks in RVC are reported at five facilities in Balzac, including the Harmony Beef meat processing plant, the Wal-Mart logistics centre, the Amazon Fulfilment Centre, the Sobeys Distribution Centre and Dexterra Group.
In RVC, Khalsa School Calgary Educational Foundation is on the COVID-19 school status map under "alert" status. Springbank Middle School has also been added to the list under "alert" status.
On the east side of the county, Chestermere is reporting 55 active cases, while out west, Cochrane has reported eight cases – two more than the day before. In Chestermere, Prairie Waters Elementary School and Rainbow Creek Elementary School are listed under "alert" status on the government's COVID-19 school status map, while Chestermere High School and Chestermere Lake Middle School are listed under "outbreak" status.
As of Feb. 16, 149,138 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta. To date, 54,024 Albertans have been fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine. Seventy-four adverse events following immunization have been reported to Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS).
According to chief medical health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw, over the long weekend, the province identified 15 new variant cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 12, 18 cases on Feb. 13, 10 on Feb. 14 and seven on Feb. 15. Hinshaw said variant numbers are averaging around 12 new cases daily.
"I know that many Albertans are concerned about these variants, and I am too," she said during her daily update Feb. 16. "I am particularly concerned about the growing number of cases not linked to travel, though many of these cases are the results of close contacts who we have identified through robust contact tracing. This includes offering testing twice to anyone who may have been exposed to a variant case."
According to Hinshaw, the province is actively monitoring any emerging research on these COVID-19 variants, and looking to see if any current guidelines or approaches need to change beyond the adjustments already made to limit opportunities for spread.
