Positivity rate surpasses 40% as COVID-related hospitalizations continue climb in Alberta

Active infections and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 continue to climb in Alberta.

In the last 24 hours, more than 6,000 new cases of the virus were reported in Alberta on more than 14,000 tests for a positivity rate of 40.9 per cent.

UPDATED:

– 6010 new COVID cases in Alberta /14350 tests (40.9%)
– 786 in hospital (+38), incl 79 in ICU (-3)
– 8 new COVID deaths
– 62,733 active cases (+1504)#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/1aO1V7BZG6

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) January 13, 2022

The new case numbers further add on to the active infections in the province which have skyrocketed in the last week.

Currently, there are more than 62,000 active cases in Alberta after more than 1,500 cases were added over the last day.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw addressed the recent changes the province made to testing in Alberta and if it can skew the case numbers, making them look worse than they actually are.

“While our case data is a smaller proportion of all cases in the community than it was before. It can still show us trends and transmission from this point onward,” said Hinshaw. “We still have acute care admission data that will be similar in proportion to previous waves.”

On top of this, Hinshaw says there is still wastewater data being collected that can help show community trends that are separate from public testing.

Related article:

‘It’s going off the charts’: Wastewater testing reflecting surge of COVID-19 cases

On Thursday, the province reported another rise in severe outcomes of COVID-19.

There are now 786 people in hospital, 79 of which are in the ICU.

Hinshaw also reporting eight more people have died in the last 24 hours.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney used the hospitalization data he has at his disposal to prove why it is so important to get the vaccine at this stage of the pandemic.

Premier Kenney says 70% of patients in Alberta ICU are from the 10% of those who haven't had a vaccine.#yeg #Yyc #ableg #Covid19ab

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) January 13, 2022

“I can say that over 70 per cent of the COVID patients in our intensive care wards right now are unvaccinated and they come from the 10 per cent of the population that have not yet received a dose of vaccine,” said Kenney.

To date, more than 7.98 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Of the total population, 79.8 per cent have received one dose, 73.3 per cent have received their second, and 27.6 per cent have received their booster.