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

By Shane Clausing

COVID-19

Hinshaw: “The average age of people experiencing hospitalization is dropping”

Nov 20, 2020 | 5:42 PM

As COVID-19 numbers across Alberta continue to see a sharp rise, so do hospitalizations and deaths.

This week Alberta reported one of its deadliest weeks yet as a result of COVID-19. From November 13-20, 64 people in Alberta lost their lives. In that same week, hospitalizations across the province also grew by 70.

“I continue to be concerned in the rise of these tragic outcomes of COVID-19,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health. “Severe outcomes are not limited just to those at the very end of their lives and it is a mistake to think so.”

Hinshaw added that earlier this week, two men who were in their 30s in the Edmonton Zone died as a result of COVID-19. While both men had comorbidities (one or more other diseases or medical conditions), they were not on their own life-threatening conditions.

“The average age of people experiencing hospitalization is dropping,” said Hinshaw. “And about one in four people who need hospital care for COVID-19 and one in every six in ICU for COVID-19 have no pre-existing medical conditions.”

Hinshaw noted that it is completely normal for adults over the age of 50 to have some type of pre-existing condition.

“These conditions include things like high blood pressure and diabetes. In Alberta, almost one-quarter of all adults over the age of 20 have a chronic condition. That is almost 800,000 people.”

“When looking just at men in Alberta, more than half of men over 50 and almost 70 per cent of men over the age of 65 have high blood pressure. That should not be a death sentence. We must remember that our actions protect these people, as well as ourselves.”

With hospitalizations continuing to rise, Hinshaw said that the province has 70 general ICU beds that have been planned for COVID-19 patients. So far, 81 per cent of those beds are being used. Hinshaw says they are ready to add more if needed.

“AHS has already readied additional ICU beds in Edmonton Zone and additional ICU spaces in Calgary Zone will be ready if needed. This is likely where additional capacity is likely to be required, but creating this capacity means stopping or delaying other services and this is the impact we want to avoid.”

Hinshaw pleaded with Albertans to continue to follow all health and safety measures to ensure that hospitalizations can drop and support our health care system from reaching its capacity.

If the rise continues, Alberta Health Services says that it’ll have to look at limiting visitations to hospital patients.