Airdrie's active COVID-19 cases have dipped slightly in the last few days, and the city is reporting 75 active cases as of March 11 – a decrease of six from March 9.
According to numbers updated daily on Airdrie.ca, there have been 1,946 total cases of the virus reported in the city so far. To date, 1,854 Airdronians have recovered from COVID-19 and 17 deaths have been reported.
- COVID-19 UPDATES: See the latest local and global COVID-19 information.
Locally, cases are still confirmed at three Airdrie schools. According to the provincial COVID-19 status map, École Edwards Elementary School and R.J. Hawkey Elementary School are each listed under "alert" status, meaning they have reported two to four cases each, while Northcott Prairie School has been upgraded to "outbreak" status, with five to nine active cases.
No Airdrie-based facilities are currently on the Alberta government's list of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Provincially, according to alberta.ca, on March 11, 364 new cases were identified, with a testing positivity rate of four per cent. The new numbers mean there were 4,488 active cases in Alberta as of March 11, and there have been a total of 137,137 cases since the pandemic began.
According to the reported provincial numbers, 130,716 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19 as of March 11, while 259 patients are in hospital with the virus and 38 Albertans are in intensive care units. In total, 1,933 deaths have been reported in Alberta from COVID-19, including five new deaths reported on March 11.
On the east side of the county, Chestermere reported 20 active cases as of March 20 – an increase of four since March 8. Chestermere Lake Middle School is still listed under "outbreak" status, with five to nine cases.
Cochrane's COVID-19 numbers continue to climb, as the town reported 39 active cases as of March 11 – 27 cases more than were reported in the town on March 2. Two local high schools – Cochrane High School and Bow Valley High School – are each experiencing outbreaks of the virus, with the former reporting two to four active cases, while the latter is reporting 10 or more active cases. Elizabeth Barrett Elementary School is also listed on the government's COVID-19 school status map, with two to four active cases.
Regarding variant COVID-19 cases, Alberta identified 41 additional cases of variants of concern on March 11, bringing the provincial total to 775. These include 760 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant (which originated in the United Kingdom) and 15 cases of the B.1.1351 South African variant.
On the vaccination front, 317,574 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Alberta as of March 10, according to government figures. To date, 91,366 Albertans are fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine.
According to a government press release, starting March 11, Albertans born in 1959 or 1960 can book an appointment for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. First Nation, Métis or Inuit individuals born in 1974 and 1975 can also book their appointments. Albertans born between 1958 and 1971 and First Nation, Métis or Inuit individuals born between 1973 and 1986 will be eligible to book by year of birth, one year at a time, over the coming days, dependent on the AstraZeneca vaccine supply.
Bookings for Phase 2A of the COVID-19 vaccine program will begin the week of March 15.
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
