ATHABASCA - The Athabasca region was very close to zero active COVID-19 cases over the last week, falling to just one for several days, but now sits at two as of today.
The Alberta government's geospatial map showed one case in the Boyle area and one more within the borders of Athabasca County, which includes the Town of Athabasca March 4. The active case rate per 100,000 now sits at just 15.3, and was below 10 while there one only one case.
Since April 22, 2020, the three municipalities have seen 195 total cases with 192 recoveries. There was also one death reported in the Boyle area.
The Athabasca region reached its peak a week before Christmas with 48 active cases and a case rate per 100,000 of 348.6, but has fallen steadily ever since.
The ever-changing numbers and various legislation from local, provincial and federal levels of government has caused some confusion among the public as to what rules and guidelines are in effect at different places, and when?
Town of Athabasca CAO Rachel Ramey clarified that even though Athabasca-area COVID-19 numbers have dropped well below the threshold listed in the temporary face-covering bylaw which was passed by town and county council in mid-November, masks are still required as per provincial law.
The bylaws for the town and county were triggered Nov. 22 when active cases reached 10 and the case rate per 100,000 reached 75.8, but the provincewide mask mandate announced by the Alberta government Dec. 8, supercedes the municipal legislation so the number of active cases in a region is no longer a consideration.
“The confusion is that the town and county each passed a temporary face-covering bylaw that would see masks required as long as we had 10 or more cases in the Athabasca region, and for two weeks after we came below that number. Now that we are under 10 active cases, people think that face coverings are no longer required,” said Ramey. “But because the province mandated the wearing of masks, our bylaws have no effect, all provincial mandates supersede any municipal bylaws.”
That is also the reason the mask mandate still applies in the Village of Boyle, which decided against enacting the same bylaw in November.
The Alberta Human Rights Commission has stated requirements to wear masks for public health and safety are not prohibited by the Alberta Human Rights Act and being refused service or accommodation for not wearing a mask is not necessarily contrary to the act.
The Athabasca Healthcare Centre and Boyle Healthcare Centre are still considered to have outbreaks, until 28 days after their last positive case is identified, and should be winding down soon. Boyle School also had an outbreak with two positive cases, but has remained virus-free, and its status is now back to normal. Aspen View Public Schools is however now dealing with an outbreak of three positive cases at Vilna School in Smoky Lake County.
Across the T&C region, Westlock County also has two cases, with two deaths and 171 recoveries; and the County of Barrhead remains at zero cases after two deaths and 54 recoveries. Lac La Biche County is also at zero cases, however the Hamlet of Lac Lac Biche is at 21 active cases and has recorded nine deaths.
Smoky Lake County is back up to 137 active cases after falling into low double digits just two weeks ago, and has also seen nine deaths as a result of COVID-19. Neighbouring Thorhild County is at two; the M.D. of Lesser Slave River sits at 15 active cases, while the M.D. of Opportunity has 79 active cases, and has recorded six deaths.
Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported there were nine more deaths across the province since Wednesday, bringing that grim total to 1,911 since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 22,000 Canadians have died after contracting the virus, most of them elderly, and most of them in continuing care facilities.
There were also 331 new cases identified in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 4,613 — 245 of them are currently hospitalized and 47 of those hospitalized are in an intensive care unit. There were also 33 more "variants of concern" identified, bringing that total to 541.
Nearly two million people have been tested and 266,231 vaccines have been administered with 89,786 Albertans now fully vaccinated with two doses.
