WESTLOCK — The Westlock area has not recorded any new COVID-19 cases since yesterday’s update, and four people have recovered.
There are 13 active cases of 159 recorded since the start of the pandemic. One person has died, a 90-year-old man at the Westlock Continuing Care Centre, and 145 others have recovered.
The area includes the Town of Westlock, Westlock County and the Village of Clyde.
The outbreak at the Continuing Care Centre is still ongoing.
The province has administered 89,814 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as of yesterday. All residents and staff at the province’s 357 long-term care and designated supported living have received the first dose of the vaccine.
In Alberta, 474 new cases were reported today out of 8,500 tests for a positivity rate of 5.4 per cent. There are 11,923 active cases in the province.
Eleven more people have died which brings the death toll in Alberta to 1,447. Hospitalizations sit at 739, with 120 of them in ICU.
“While it is encouraging to see these numbers going down, it is important to keep in mind that over the past 10 years, the average annual recorded death toll from influenza has been 58 deaths per year.
“So having lost an additional 11 people to COVID-19, which amounts to almost 20 per cent of an average full year of influenza data, should not be taken lightly,” said Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
Starting today, some COVID-19 measures will be eased: outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will be permitted, personal and wellness services will be allowed to reopen by appointment only, and 20 people will be allowed to attend funerals.
Andreea Resmerita, TownandCountryToday.com
Watch Dr. Hinshaw's Jan. 18 COVID-19 update:
