The number of St. Albertans who currently have COVID-19 fell to 101 people over the weekend.
This is a drop of 17 positive cases from Oct. 30, when provincial data reported 118 active cases in the city.
Three deaths have now been linked to the St. Albert Retirement Residence outbreak, according to Alberta Health Services (AHS). Provincial data is currently showing one death linked to the facility. That person was a male in his 70s.
When asked about the two other deaths, which were confirmed to the Gazette by AHS, Alberta Health told the Gazette there could be a delay in provincial reporting.
In total, the city has seen 325 positive cases of COVID-19 with 221 people recovered. Five people in total have died.
Bruce Lillie, regional marketing director for facility operator All Seniors Care Living Centres, said five staff members and four residents are no longer part of the active positive case count.
This means there are 43 active cases with residents at the facility, and nine active cases with staff members. Of those, three staff members are expected to be "resolved" (i.e., no longer test positive for COVID-19). Six staff members are experiencing mild symptoms and are completing self-isolation at home.
On Monday, the facility underwent a sixth round of swab testing, Lillie said. Those results are expected to come in over the next few days.
"We're anticipating many, many negative, but you never know. If there's going to be a jump, that's a big reason why, because we're testing everyone at the same time," he said.
The province underwent an upgrade to their data reporting systems over the weekend, meaning the most recent numbers could only be made available on Tuesday.
Over the last four days, the province has averaged 567 new cases per day, said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health.
“This is a large and troubling number, one that drives home the challenge that we are facing,” she said.
A large portion of the transmission the province is seeing is happening in households, meaning family members are infecting one another, Hinshaw said.
“If you are sick with even mild symptoms, you need to take steps to protect those around you,” she said.
Whenever possible, people who are sick should isolate themselves from others and use a different bedroom and bathroom if possible, Hinshaw said. Disinfect commonly used surfaces, don’t eat dinner with family members or share utensils, food or watch a movie together on the couch. Don’t go out of the house even for an important family outing.
“When COVID-19 starts to escalate, it can do so quickly and dramatically," she said. "We must not give up."
On Friday, the province reported 581 new cases. On Saturday, there were 525 new cases, with 592 new cases on Sunday. On Monday, there were 570 new cases reported.
The lab positivity rate in the province has risen to 6.8 per cent yesterday, in Edmonton, positivity rate is almost nine per cent, Hinshaw said.
There have been 15 deaths in the province since Friday, with 10 of them in the Edmonton zone.
There are now 6,110 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 2,581 in the Edmonton zone.
