Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Friday, May 21
CBC News | Posted: May 21, 2021 4:47 PM | Last Updated: May 22, 2021
Province reports 732 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 more deaths on Friday
The latest on restrictions:
- Alberta has announced new COVID-19 quarantine rules: Fully vaccinated Albertans no longer have to quarantine if they are exposed to COVID-19 and are not showing symptoms.
- And people who have had one shot can have their isolation time reduced.
- Almost all Alberta K-12 students are to return to classrooms next week with the exception of students in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, who will stay home one more week.
- George McGuigan, superintendent of the Fort McMurray Catholic Schools, said the extra week gives his community a reprieve amid the high number of COVID-19 cases.
- Several organizations that run summer camps for kids in southern Alberta — including YMCA's Camp Chief Hector, Easter Seals Camp Horizon, and Kids Cancer Care's Camp Kindle — are cancelling this year's overnight offerings as the province continues to grapple with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The City of Calgary says it won't create a voter list for candidates in a decision that appears aimed at protecting the privacy of voters. The move comes after reports last week that a mayoral candidate, Kevin J. Johnston, was attempting to track down addresses of Alberta Health Services employees and threatening to show up at their homes armed.
- Johnston, who is running in this fall's municipal election, was allegedly in violation of a court order when he attended illegal gatherings Saturday, where people were violating public health laws to protest COVID-19-related restrictions.
- In another arrest of another higher profile person accused of repeatedly and flagrantly violating public health laws, Pastor Tim Stephens was arrested for organizing a church service in violation of public health rules at Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary.
- And Ty and Gail Northcott, organizers of a rodeo earlier this month near Bowden, Alta., to protest provincial COVID-19 restrictions, pleaded not guilty on Monday to violating Alberta's Public Health Act by holding the event. They have vowed to hold more.
- AHS says one positive case of COVID-19 has now been directly linked to the rodeo.
- The government introduced a bundle of tougher public-health restrictions again on May 4, to slow the spread of COVID-19 — measures Kenney said were needed to keep the health-care system from being overwhelmed.
- The new public health measures apply to all parts of Alberta except those with fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people.
- The full list of current restrictions is available on the province's website.
The latest on vaccines:
- 2,401,932 vaccine doses have been administered in Alberta as of May 20, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford.
- 376 adverse events following immunization have been reported. The most common are allergic reactions, swelling of glands, and diarrhea/vomiting. Together these make up the majority of the adverse events reported.
- 46.1 per cent of Alberta's population has now received at least one dose of vaccine.
- 341,610 Albertans are fully immunized (two doses) — 7.6 per cent of the population.
- A pop-up vaccination clinic in Calgary is reaching out to people who may be falling through the cracks. The Calgary Alpha House Society has partnered with Alberta Health and Safeworks to provide vaccinations for their clients, and anyone experiencing homelessness. The clinic will run twice a week until June.
- Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, says people who got their first dose of vaccine outside of the province can get a second dose in Alberta with proof of vaccination, which will be entered into their health records.
- Canadians looking to drive across the border to the United States for the sole purpose of getting a COVID-19 vaccine are not exempt from mandatory quarantine upon their return. In a statement late Wednesday, the Public Health Agency of Canada said quarantine exemptions now in place are not intended for those travelling abroad to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease. Earlier this week, Albertans who attended a Montana vaccination clinic were told they were exempted from having to quarantine for 14 days.
(Note the latest daily count of new cases in the above chart will usually vary slightly from the net new cases Alberta Health announces each day. For more on why, click here.)
Watch | Alberta education minister, Opposition address plan to return students to classrooms:
The latest COVID-19 numbers:
- Alberta reported 732 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and two more deaths.
- There were 16,577 active cases as of Friday.
- Alberta continues to have the highest active-case rate (active cases per 100,000 people) of all provinces and territories in Canada, but Manitoba is catching up.
- The rate of active cases was 374 per 100,000 people in Alberta.
- The daily test positivity rate reported on Friday was 7.4 per cent.
- There were 638 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 177 in intensive care.
- There have now been 2,164 COVID deaths.
- 204,270 Albertans are considered to have recovered from COVID-19.
- The latest R-value reported for the province was 0.84, meaning the virus is spreading to less than one person for each confirmed case.
- Three of Calgary's four adult hospitals are once again dealing with a number of COVID-19 outbreaks. The outbreaks are driven by the variant first discovered in the U.K. Rockyview General Hospital has three impacted units including four patients and one healthcare worker. An outbreak at Peter Lougheed Centre involves one patient. And Foothills Medical Centre has two units on outbreak including four patients.
- Shoppers Drug Mart says it is now offering rapid antigen COVID-19 tests for asymptomatic people at all its pharmacies in Ontario and Alberta. The tests have to be purchased.
See which regions are being hit hardest:
Here is the detailed regional breakdown of active cases as reported by the province on Thursday.
- Calgary zone: 7,532 active cases, down from 8,132 active cases reported on Wednesday (82,412 recovered).
- Edmonton zone: 3,966 down from 4,195 (70,606 recovered).
- North zone: 2,507 down from 2,657 (22,441 recovered).
- South zone: 837 down from 871 (11,057 recovered).
- Central zone: 1,726 down from 1,814 (17,736 recovered).
- Unknown: 7, down from 24 (18 recovered).
You can see active cases by local health area on the following interactive map. Scroll, zoom and click on the map for more information:
Find out which neighbourhoods or communities have the most cases, how hard people of different ages have been hit, the ages of people in hospital, how Alberta compares to other provinces and more in: Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta — and what they mean.