ATHABASCA - The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the Athabasca region is still sliding, falling from 27 last Sunday, to 21 this afternoon, and down from 38 in the last 10 days.
The Athabasca numbers seem to be in line with a general downward trend in Alberta as a whole, but there are still 744 people in hospital because of the virus, and 124 of them are in intensive care, as the extension of restrictions announced by the provincial government earlier this month expires tomorrow. On Monday, some of those restrictions were eased, allowing some businesses, like hairdressers, that were shuttered to open again, by appointment.
On Jan. 20, the Government of Alberta's geospatial map reported an active case rate of 159.1 per 100,000 residents in Athabasca County, the Town of Athabasca, and the Village of Boyle, with a population of the three municipalities combined at 13,196. That's down from 204.6 on Jan. 17.
Recoveries have increased to 158 for a total of 179 cases since the pandemic was declared in March.
Active cases in the Boyle area are below 10 now, falling to seven today, down from 11 last Sunday. There have been 59 total cases in the area.
The Boyle area is bordered to the southeast by Smoky Lake County, where there have now been 535 total cases at this point, along with four deaths. The number of active cases is down to 70 from 86 active cases last Sunday. The active case rate per 100,000 sits at 831.3, with 8,421 residents.
Thorhild County remains at zero active cases, after seeing 35 recoveries.
Westlock County reports 11 active cases and 150 recoveries, with a single death reported; County of Barrhead has just two active cases with 47 recoveries and two deaths; while the M.D. of Lesser Slave River to the west has 25 active cases and 132 recoveries. All are down from numbers reported just a few days ago.
To the north, in the M.D. of Opportunity, active cases are down to 59, and there have been 197 recoveries, but the first death in the district was also recorded. The active case rate is 887.8 per 100,000 residents, with a population of 6,646. East of Athabasca County in Lac La Biche County, there are 70 active cases, all within the Hamlet of Lac La Biche, along with 205 recoveries, as well as three outside the hamlet. There have also been five deaths recorded.
The province reported 669 additional cases since the previous day, along with 21 more deaths — 1,484 in all. There are now 10,565 active cases in Alberta, which has been consistently falling every day, and there have been 106,387 recoveries since March.
More than 3 million tests have been conducted, including 14,888 in the last 24 hours.
There have been 720,420 confirmed cases across Canada since the pandemic was declared, and 18,287 people have died.
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