The positive trend of dropping local COVID-19 cases continued in recent days, as Airdrie reported 74 active cases on Jan. 31, down six from three days prior.
According to airdrie.ca, there have been 1,752 cases in Airdrie since the pandemic began. As of Jan. 30, 1,658 Airdronians had recovered from the virus and 16 local deaths had been reported.
Three Airdrie schools remain on the provincial COVID-19 school status map. George McDougall High School remains under "outbreak" status, meaning the school currently has 10 or more active cases. On the east side of the city, Bert Church High School is listed under "alert" status, meaning two to four cases have been reported there since in-class learning resumed in early January. St. Veronica School has also been listed under "alert" status.
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, one resident and three employees were confirmed to still have the virus as of Jan. 30.
Outside of Airdrie city limits, Rocky View County has 55 active cases as of Jan. 31, which is a decrease of seven from last week. On the east side of the county, Chestermere is now at 51 active cases, while out west, Cochrane is reporting 17 cases.
Chestermere Lake Middle School and Prairie Waters Elementary School have both been listed under "alert" status on the government's COVID-19 school status map, meaning two to four active cases are reported there, while Chestermere High School is listed under "alert" status.
Provincially, 461 new cases were identified on Jan. 30, meaning there have been a total of 124,208 cases of COVID-19 in Alberta. Of the total cases, 7,505 are active, 115,064 people have recovered, 561 patients are in hospital and 101 Albertans are in intensive care units. In total, 1,639 deaths have been reported in the province due to the virus.
As of Jan. 30, 106,254 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Alberta. To date, 16,118 Albertans have been fully immunized with two doses of a vaccine. Forty-eight adverse events following immunization have been reported to Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS).
During a Jan. 29 press conference, Premier Jason Kenney announced some economic restrictions will ease starting Feb. 8. He said the provincial easing of restrictions will follow a phased approach, with the number of hospitalizations as benchmarks for certain reopenings.
"Total hospitalizations, both for ICU and general acute care, is the key metric that will guide how and when we ease public health measures," he said.
"We recognize the damaging impact that many restrictions have on peoples' lives," he said. "They cause financial stress that often turns into mental and emotional health problems. That is why Alberta's government has always viewed restrictions as a last limited policy choice"
Step one of the process, which begins Feb. 8, will be the 600-hospitalization benchmark. With this step, according to Kenney, indoor and outdoor school-related children's sport and performance will be allowed to resume, while restaurants, cafes and pubs will be permitted to offer dine-in service, with restrictions still in place. In addition, indoor fitness facilities will be allowed to offer one-on-one personal training services on an appointment-only basis.
