Airdrie's active number of COVID-19 cases has remained relatively steady in recent days, as the city reported 63 active cases as of Feb. 25.
The current cases mean there have been 1,866 total cases in Airdrie since the pandemic began, according to figures posted on Airdrie.ca. Of the total cases, 1,786 Airdronians have recovered from the virus and 17 deaths have been reported.
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Across the province, 399 new cases of COVID-19 were identified on Feb. 25, with a test positivity rate of 4.38 per cent. The new numbers mean there were 4,484 active cases in Alberta as of yesterday, and a total of 132,432 cases since the pandemic began.
According to the Province, 126,074 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19, 280 patients are in hospital with the virus and 56 Albertans are in intensive care units. In total, 1,874 deaths have been reported in Alberta from COVID-19, including eight new deaths reported on Feb. 25.
Cases are currently confirmed in four 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. École francophone d'Airdrie, École Edwards Elementary School and Herons Crossing School are listed under "alert" status, meaning they have reported two to four cases each.
Elsewhere in the city, the First Impressions Day Home was added to the Alberta government's list of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Outside of Airdrie city limits, Rocky View County (RVC) was reporting 18 active cases as of Feb. 25. Regarding schools around the County, Khalsa School Calgary Educational Foundation is on the COVID-19 school status map under "outbreak" status, with five to nine active cases. Springbank Middle School has also been added to the list under "alert" status, with two to four cases.
On the east side of RVC, Chestermere continued a positive trend of declining cases, with 20 active cases as of Feb. 25 – a drop of 13 from four days prior. However, Rainbow Creek Elementary School is listed under "alert" status on the government's COVID-19 school status map, while Chestermere Lake Middle School is listed under "outbreak" status.
Out west, Cochrane continues to boast the lowest number of cases in the RVC region, with 10 active COVID-19 cases as of Feb. 25.
After several weeks of low daily vaccination numbers, Alberta has begun to ramp up its number of immunizations. As of Feb. 25, 195,572 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Alberta, according to government numbers. To date, 80,620 Albertans are fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine. Since vaccinations in the province started, 106 adverse events following immunization have been reported to Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services.
As of Feb. 24, Albertans over the age of 75 are allowed to book their COVID-19 vaccination appointments, under phase 1B of the provincial government's vaccine distribution plan. Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Feb. 25 that 100,000 Alberta seniors over the age of 75 are now booked to receive their first dose of vaccine. An additional 22,000 seniors who reside in congregate care are also booked, he added.
“Combined with the 28,000 seniors in long-term care already vaccinated, well over half of Alberta’s 75-plus population is already vaccinated or booked to receive the vaccine," he said in a statement.
“This is a significant milestone for our province and it deserves to be celebrated. Many other provinces remain days or even weeks away from even getting started."
Shandro cautioned, however, the positive news doesn't mean Alberta can let its guard down. He referenced the crashing of the provincial government's online vaccine booking tool on Feb. 25, which led to thousands of frustrated Albertans not being able to book appointments in the first hours after the site went live.
"Yesterday, despite reassurances that the online vaccine booking tool was capable of handling a large volume of bookings, Alberta Health Services fell short of Albertans’ collective expectations," he said, adding the site is now capable of handling more than 5,000 bookings per hous.
“I have further directed Alberta Health Services to add more servers, hire more staff, and add more phone lines over and above what may be needed for future phases of the vaccine deployment,” he said.
Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, will provide her next update on March 1. That is when she will address the possibility of lifting further public health orders as part of Alberta's second phase of easing restrictions. The threshold for phase two is 450 hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients – a number Alberta has remained below for weeks.
