Airdrie added four additional cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the local case count up to 64 as of Feb. 10.
According to the airdrie.ca, there have been a total of 1,804 cases locally, with 1,723 Airdronians having recovered from the virus and 17 deaths being reported.
Provincially, 339 new cases of COVID-19 were identified on Feb. 9. The new cases mean there are 5,706 active cases in the province – down 125 from the day before – and there have been a total of 127,570 cases since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, 120,316 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19, 421 patients are in hospital and 77 Albertans are in intensive care units.
In total, 1,728 deaths have been reported in the province due to the virus.
Cases continue to impact five Airdrie schools that currently remain on the provincial COVID-19 status map. Bert Church High School and George McDougall High School are still listed under "outbreak" status, with five to nine cases of COVID-19 each. 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.
Around the city, the Bethany Care Centre remains the sole local local facility on the government's list of COVID-19 outbreaks. According to the retirement home's daily bulletin, one employee was confirmed to still have the virus as of Feb. 10.
Outside of Airdrie, Rocky View County (RVC) is reporting 37 active cases as of Feb. 9 – the same number from the day previous. 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 has been added to the COVID-19 school status map under "alert" status.
On the east side of the county, Chestermere is now at 60 active cases, while out west, Cochrane remains at just six cases.
A number of Chestermere schools continue to be impacted by the virus. 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 have been listed under "outbreak" status.
As of Feb. 9, 129,452 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta. To date, 36,999 Albertans have been fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine. Sixty adverse events following immunization have been reported to Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS).
On Feb. 10, Alberta reported 16 new case of the COVID-19 variant that originated in the United Kingdom, bringing the province's total number of variant cases to 120.
Chief medical health officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said during her Feb. 10 update she was informed that there are now two cases of variant COVID-19 where in-school transmission is likely the source.
"I am aware of seven classes in six schools overall where a variant case has attended while infectious and despite rigorous follow-up, this is the first time in one of these schools that we have identified variant transmission occurring in that location," she said. "Health officials are responding and making sure that anyone who is at risk is in quarantine and being offered testing twice."
Hinshaw said the province is being extremely cautious to protect the health of everyone involved and to limit any future transmission.
"Just as our currently dominant strain of COVID-19 occasionally spreads in schools, we will identify examples of variant transmission as we are sharing today," she said. "However, knowing about variant cases means we can limit further spread, and the majority of in-school exposures so far have not led to transmission."
