Active COVID-19 case numbers continue to drop in Airdrie, as the latest reported numbers show 106 active cases in the city.
According to airdrie.ca, the active case number is down 9 from the day previous. In total, there have been 1,705 cases reported locally. Of those, 1,583 people have recovered and 16 deaths have been reported.
George McDougall High School remains listed on the provincial COVID-19 school status map after an outbreak there was reported on Jan. 15. On the east side of the city, Bert Church High School has been added to the list under "alert" status, meaning two to four cases have been reported there since in-class learning resumed.
Elsewhere in Airdrie, the Bethany Care Centre remains the sole local facility on the government's list of COVID-19 outbreaks. According to the retirement home's daily bulletin, two residents and eight employees were confirmed to have the virus as of Jan. 20.
Outside of the city, Rocky View County (RVC) is reporting 71 active cases, which is a decrease of two from from the day previous. On the east side of the county, Chestermere is now at 45 active cases, an increase of two from the day prior. Out west, Cochrane remains at 38 cases.
Provincially, there have been a total of 118,436 cases of COVID-19 in Alberta as of Jan. 20. Of the total cases, 10,565 are considered active, 106,387 people have recovered, 744 patients are in hospital and 124 Albertans are in intensive care units. In total, 1,484 deaths have been reported in the province due to the virus, including 21 new deaths reported on Jan. 20.
On Jan. 20, 669 new cases were reported in Alberta, with a test positivity rate of 4.5 per cent.
As of Jan.18, 95,243 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta. This equates to 2,153.9 doses per 100,000 population.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said during her Jan. 20 update that it is "very encouraging to see our positivity rate steadily declining since the peak in December." She added the government's economic restrictions and other health measures, enacted in November and December 2020, have helped reduce case counts.
"We need to build on our collective success by going slowly toward allowing some additional activities and not experiencing a rebound if we open too quickly," she said.
However, she added public health teams have been made aware that some employers are asking their employees who have been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases to come back to work as soon as they receive a negative test result – and before the legally-required 14-day quarantine period.
"Not only is this the wrong thing to do to protect each other, it is also illegal," she said. "A test is only a snapshot of a particular point in time and someone who has been exposed to the virus can become sick up to 14 days after their exposure. This means that someone who is a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case can test negative on day three and then test positive on day seven."
Hinshaw added she would ask that all employers respect the need for staff to isolate for the full mandatory period and support them however possible during this time.
