WESTLOCK — The Westlock area has recorded two more COVID-19 case since yesterday’s update, and five more people have recovered.
There are 14 active cases of 157 recorded since the start of the pandemic. One person has died, a 90-year-old man at the Westlock Continuing Care Centre, and 142 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.
Long-term care and designated supportive living facilities in the North zone have completed vaccinations for residents and healthcare staff earlier this week. Immunization was expanded Monday to include emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
The province has administered 66,953 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as of yesterday. Alberta Health Services will be making decisions about Phase 2 vaccinations in the coming weeks, once more details about incoming vaccines are available.
The second dose for people who were immunized in Phase 1 will be delivered if they have pre-booked their appointments in the 3–4-week interval or if they live in long-term care or designated supportive living. People who made appointments for their first dose starting yesterday will likely receive their second doses within six weeks.
In Alberta, 967 cases were reported today out of 16,000 tests for a 5.8 per cent positivity rate. There are 12,434 active cases in the province. Twenty-one more people have died in every health zone in the province, which brings the death toll in Alberta to 1,389.
Hospitalizations sit at 806, with 136 of them in ICU.
Twelve schools in the province are on alert or outbreak, with 15 confirmed case of COVID-19. Schools reopened Monday for in-person classes after all students spent the first week since the holiday break learning from home. Grade 7-12 students had been home since Nov. 30, 2020.
COVID-19 measures will be eased starting Monday: 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.
Changes to school reporting terminology
Reporting terminology for schools will change starting Monday into two categories: schools will be on alert with 1-4 cases, or on outbreak either with 5-9 or 10 or more cases.
“We hope this change makes it easier for staff, students and parents to understand the situation in their schools,” said Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
She said parents and other stakeholders said the categories Alberta Health Services has been using to report school cases — ‘alert’, ‘outbreak’ and ‘watch’ — were confusing. The ‘watch’ category will be dropped altogether on Monday.
The public reporting map for cases in schools on the government’s website will continue to be updated when a school has two or more cases.
Andreea Resmerita, TownandCountryToday.com
Watch Dr. Hinshaw's Jan. 14 COVID-19 update:
