Photo Credit: Government of Alberta

By Shane Clausing

COVID-19 Update: December 22

Grande Prairie adds 14 new COVID-19 cases, 11 recoveries

Dec 22, 2020 | 4:17 PM

Alberta added 1,021 new cases of COVID-19 for December 21, bringing the amount of total active cases in the province to 18,311.

There were 14 new cases added in the City of Grande Prairie, along with 11 recoveries, bringing the city’s active case total to 128.

An outbreak was also announced at the Mackenzie Place Continuing Care Centre in Grande Prairie by Alberta Health. Tom McMillan with Alberta Health says they have been notified of three cases at the facility, all of which are active.

The province’s health ministry reports outbreaks in acute care and continuing care facilities when there are two or more cases linked to the site, which indicates a transmission within the facility has occurred.

READ MORE: Grande Prairie frontline health workers to receive doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Elsewhere in the Peace Region, the County of Grande Prairie added six new cases and had one recovery. There are 24 active cases in the County.

The M.D. of Greenview added five new cases, bringing it’s active case total to 29.

Updated case totals among Peace Region municipalities as of the end of day December 21 are as follows:

• City of Grande Prairie: 703 cases (128 active, 568 recovered, seven deaths)
• County of Grande Prairie: 216 cases (24 active, 191 recovered, one death)
• M.D. of Greenview: 133 cases (29 active, 103 recovered, one death)
• Birch Hills County: Seven cases (all recovered)
• M.D. of Spirit River: 32 cases (all recovered)
• Saddle Hills County: Nine cases (one active, eight recovered)
• M.D. of Smoky River: 89 cases (nine active, 70 recovered, 10 deaths)
• Big Lakes County: 130 cases (54 active, 71 recovered, five deaths)
• M.D. of Lesser Slave River: 95 cases (10 active, 85 recovered)
• M.D. of Peace: 175 cases (13 active, 162 recovered)
• M.D. of Fairview: 58 cases (four active, 53 recovered, one death)
• Clear Hills County: 99 cases (one active, 97 recovered, one death)
• Northern Sunrise County: 83 cases (36 active, 47 recovered)
• County of Northern Lights: 69 cases (all recovered)
• Mackenzie County: 474 cases (20 active, 440 recovered, 14 deaths)
  

Across the province, hospitalizations grew from 795 to 802, while patients in the ICU grew by one to 152.

In the North Zone, hospitalizations grew by four to 34, while ICU patients dropped from seven to five.

READ MORE: Province loosens rules for single Albertans over holidays

There were 11 new deaths reported as a result of COVID-19, two of which were reported in the North Zone, bringing Alberta’s COVID-19 death toll to 871.

In the last 24 hours, the province conducted 14,199 tests, resulting in a 7.2 per cent test positivity rate.