Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping introduces proposed Continuing Care Act March 28, 2022 (Photo: Alberta Government)

By Shane Clausing/Chris Brown

increase in covid cases

Increases in PCR positivity rate and wastewater data being monitored

Apr 7, 2022 | 4:41 PM

Health Minister Jason Copping says Alberta is seeing increases in leading COVID-19 indicators as fears of a sixth wave circulate in Alberta.

He says the wastewater data from March 29 and April 4 show there is more virus circulating in a number of areas. It’s not at the level of the spike seen in later December and early January and in some centres the data is fluctuating in between the extremes of the past few months.

“So it’s a concern and we’re monitoring it closely,” Copping said at a Thursday media availability. “But it remains to be seen how much more increase we’ll see and in particular how that will translate into serious illness and hospitalization.”

Copping said the positivity rate from PCR testing over the same period is about 26.3 per cent, up from 24.5 the week before.

The weekly update of COVID numbers was provided by the province Wednesday. There are 990 Albertans in hospital, up from 964 in last week’s update.

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“We can expect some increase in admissions over the next few weeks but we’re well-positioned to manage it,” Copping said.

“First, we have strong protection from our high level of vaccination and from exposure from the initial Omicron wave about three months ago. Second, our health system is heading into April with total numbers of admitted patients that are within normal levels for this time of year.”

Copping says overall, hospital occupancy is currently around 90 per cent depending on the day, which is similar to the same time of year in the five years before COVID.

Provincial officials say they do expect an increase in admissions, but not as sharp of one that we saw in previous waves.

He mentioned the surgical waitlist has continued to decline. Most recently, the surgical waitlist has declined slowly from 77,000 to 74,000 since the start of March.

Copping also reminded Albertans during his weekly COVID-19 update that they have expanded the eligibility of fourth doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to more age groups.

Starting on April 12, all Albertans aged 70 and older along with First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Alberta age 65 and older will be eligible to book a fourth dose appointment.

Appointments can be booked by visiting the AHS website or by calling 811.

The province also announced that it will receive 10,000 doses of the Novavax vaccine.

Nuvaxovid is a two-dose protein subunit vaccine that does not use mRNA technology and is approved for those 18 and older. Due to limited supply, appointments for this vaccine can be booked by calling 811 only.

Eligibility for the Paxlovid antiviral drug has also been expanded to First Nations, Métis and Inuit people age 45 and older who are unvaccinated or have received only one dose of vaccine, along with individuals living in long-term care and designated supportive living settings, regardless of vaccination status