Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw (Photo: Government of Alberta)

By Shaun Penner

COVID-19 UPDATE: November 5

No local COVID-19 numbers; Hinshaw says around 800 new cases added in Alberta

Nov 5, 2020 | 5:39 PM

Though a technical issue led to the inability to report on local specific COVID-19 information for November 4, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says the province added approximately 800 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says an issue was found with the province’s COVID-19 reporting site, which has seen several issues since it received some maintenance over the weekend, including a delay on Wednesday.

“This has not impacted our ability to identify and follow-up on new cases. It has only impacted our reporting system with our dashboard.”

“During our usual quality assurance process, the team discovered some internal discrepancies that I felt needed to be addressed, so that I could feel comfortable we were presenting data that was accurate as possible.”

Thursday’s COVID-19 update was pushed back by just over an hour as the province tried to remedy the error. As more time was needed, Hinshaw opted to provide her update late Thursday despite not having detailed statistics on local case counts. She said that information will be available in Friday’s update at 3:30 p.m., alongside the update for November 5.

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However, she says she has seen the new case count for November 4, which she says was around 800.

“The fact that we are reporting 800 new cases is extremely concerning,” stated Hinshaw.

With that new case count, Hinshaw stressed her concern with rising hospitalizations, notably in Edmonton and Calgary, suggesting that with the next couple of weeks, hospital numbers will only rise.

As of November 3, there were 98 people in hospital in Edmonton and 50 in Calgary. Twenty-four of those combined 148 people were in an ICU.

“It is most concerning because it means that the measures we introduced 10 days ago (in Edmonton and Calgary), which may have helped cases plateau over the last few days, are not having enough of an effect. It means that in about seven to 10 days from now, our hospital numbers will rise further.”

Hinshaw says her biggest concern is around the number of active cases that attended work or social events while symptomatic. She says in Edmonton, 9 per cent of active cases worked while they had symptoms.

Another 8 per cent went to retail stores or service businesses while showing symptoms, while a further 8 per cent attended a social event.

Hinshaw adds that in the case of a city like Edmonton, which has over 2,500 active cases, that equates to about 500 people that did not stay home while showing symptoms.

“This is significant. I am calling on Albertans to please stop all activities if you have any symptoms.

“By leaving your home for any reason, other than getting tested or seeking health care, you are putting others at risk and potentially spreading the virus, so that one case can lead to many.”

She said the top driver of transmission right now in Alberta is private gatherings and within households. She says around 40 per cent of the active cases in Edmonton and Calgary were exposed in one of those two settings.

“If we could reduce cases in this area alone, then we would be quickly able to bend the curve back down.”

Though she pointed to the two largest cities in Alberta, Hinshaw says the remainder of the province is not exempt from the “concerning” rise in new cases.

In the last two weeks, the province has seen anywhere from 400 to over 600 people test positive for the virus each day.

“Unless our numbers decline dramatically in the next few days, we will have to consider additional measures to bring COVID numbers down in order to protect our health system. We also need to protect those most at risk for severe outcomes.”

As of November 3, the City of Grande Prairie has 96 active cases of COVID-19, while the County of Grande Prairie has 27.

Hospitalizations remain low as of the end of day Tuesday in northern Alberta, with six people in hospital, two of whom are in intensive care.