Alberta announces final live COVID-19 update as cases trend downward

The Alberta government is ending press conference updates on COVID-19.

Health Minister Jason Copping and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw hosted the final update Wednesday afternoon.

Hinshaw said the numbers continue on their downward trend.

Here is a summary of today’s #COVID19AB update: Today will be our last regularly scheduled COVID-19 update. Online updates will continue weekly to keep Albertans informed of the current levels of risk in their communities and trends across the province. (1/10)

— Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health (@CMOH_Alberta) June 22, 2022

“Our PCR test positivity rate ranged from 8.7 to 14.9 per cent, an average of 12.3 per cent for the week. Sadly between June 14 and 20, 13 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported to Alberta Health,” said Hinshaw.

Copping pointed to wastewater numbers as an example.

“Wastewater signals have trended down for two months. And while there’s some fluctuation, the levels in the seven largest cities are now at or approaching the levels last Fall before Omicron,” said Copping.

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“As transmission has decreased so too has the level of hospitalizations,” added Copping.

Estimated COVID-19 case numbers provided by the province on June 20 show that 661 people were in the hospital with the virus. The update also showed there were 140 active new cases in Alberta and 17 people in the ICU.

The province will still provide the numbers each week but say some of the information that they share on the COVID-19 dashboard will change later this Summer.

Courtney Theriault, CityNews reporter, says there have been more than 200 of these updates over the past 27 months.

While masking and isolation rules are being lifted, the province notes measures in Alberta Health Services (AHS) and contracted health facilities will remain in place through the AHS’ policies, as required.