Barrhead cracks the threshold of 100 active cases yet again

A total of 101 active cases of COVID-19 have been identified within the County of Barrhead, an increase of 26 cases in just four days. 

That’s according to the geospatial map listing COVID-19 cases in municipalities across Alberta, which is maintained by the Alberta government. 

In addition to the 101 active cases in the County of Barrhead, there have been 451 recoveries and four deaths over the course of the pandemic. 

Westlock County currently has 88 active cases, an increase of 16 from Sept. 25. The municipality has also seen 528 recoveries and four deaths. 

Athabasca County has 24 active cases (a decrease of three from Saturday) on top of 810 recoveries and three deaths. 

To the south and west of Barrhead, Lac Ste. Anne County has a total of 186 active cases and Woodlands County has just 14 active cases. (That does not include the Town of Whitecourt, which has 160 active cases.) 

Provincially, there are 20,306 active cases of COVID-19, an increase of 266 cases from Sunday. A total of 1,084 Albertans are currently hospitalized due to the virus, with 268 being treated in the ICU. 

A total of 34 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 2,697. That is the second-highest single-day death toll that has been reported in Alberta since January. 

According to a release, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney discussed allocating additional health care resources during a 20-minute phone conversation this morning. 

After thanking him for the offer, Kenney confirmed that the federal and Alberta governments are working on providing additional resources from the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Red Cross. 

Kenney has also asked the federal government for 20,000 doses of the Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine, citing data that shows Albertans in areas of low vaccine uptake have said they are waiting for Janssen dosses to be made available. Trudeau indicated that the federal government would be happy to help.

They also discussed making rapid antigen testing kits more readily available to the private sector.

Kevin Berger, TownandCountryToday.com