Photo: Government of Alberta

By Shane Clausing

COVID update

Grande Prairie records 59th COVID-19 death, 42 new cases

Feb 3, 2022 | 3:53 PM

The City of Grande Prairie recorded its 59th COVID-19 death on February 2. It was one of 15 deaths reported to Alberta Health over the last 24 hours. To date, 3,608 Albertans have died as a result of COVID-19.

The city also recorded 42 new COVID-19 cases and 28 recoveries, there are 459 active cases.

The County of Grande Prairie added 20 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, along with 43 recoveries, there are 183 active cases in that region.

Across Alberta, 2,370 new cases were identified from 7,338 tests, resulting in a test positivity rate of 32.2 per cent. There are currently 33,879 active cases in the province.

Provincial officials say with the rollout of rapid tests to most households, the actual number of new COVID-19 infections in the province is likely higher than what is being reported.

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Active case totals, as of February 2 among Peace Region municipalities, are as follows:

• City of Grande Prairie: 459 active (+13)
• County of Grande Prairie: 183 active (+13)
• MD of Greenview: 85 active (-2)
• Birch Hills County: two active (-1)
• MD of Spirit River: 17 active (+2)
• Saddle Hills County: two active (-)
• MD of Peace: 91 active (+6)
• MD of Fairview: 26 active (+3)
• MD of Smoky River: 49 active (+4)
• Big Lakes County: 79 active (+6)
• Clear Hills County: four active (-2)
• County of Northern Lights: 12 active (-1)
• Northern Sunrise County: 18 active (-5)
• Mackenzie County: 62 active (+3)
  

The province saw hospitalizations decline to 1,584 (down 14), while ICU patients decreased by six to 112. Of those in the hospital, 398 are unvaccinated, while in the ICU, 56 of the 112 patients are unvaccinated.

In the North Zone, 102 people are in hospital (down three), six of whom are in the ICU (down one).

To date, 89.9 per cent of eligible Albertans aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 86.1 per cent of those eligible have received at least two doses.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday there are signs Alberta may be on its way out of the Omicron wave of COVID-19 and signaled a moving to an endemic approach is being considered.

“I believe that after the Omicron wave has subsided, the risk of our system becoming overwhelmed will be substantially reduced and this will enable us to shift our response,” she said.

She said this shift in thinking can be challenging, given the extraordinary circumstances over the past two years. She made clear what moving to an endemic stage means.

“COVID will not go away,” said the chief medical officer of health. “There will continue to be impacts on our acute care systems that will rise and fall with seasonality and new variants that may emerge. We can not prevent all negative outcomes from COVID and we must be ready to respond to new information.”

She said it’s still important to find a balance between the harms of COVID and the harms of measures to protect against an overwhelming surge of severe outcomes.

The change, she said, will take time and we need to continue monitoring sever impacts and any changes to the virus.

“But we cannot continue to use restrictions in the long-term once the risk of system overwhelm has passed,” said Hinshaw.

She also said data is indicating that we are likely beginning to turn a corner with this fifth wave. Hinshaw announced too a key change to quarantine rules. A quarantine now shifts from 14 days to 10 days for anyone who is asymptomatic, unvaccinated, and a household close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19. Hinshaw said this aligns Alberta with other jurisdictions across Canada.

With files from Josh Hall (rdnewsNOW) and Chris Brown (CHAT News Today)