Premier Jason Kenney gave an update on the COVID-19 virus today, May 17 in order to educate Albertans and squash myths and misinformation involving the COVID-19 pandemic. The Premier was joined by Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw and AHS President and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu. 

“Currently, added to the 186 COVID patients in ICU’s are about 55 more people who are in ICU’s for non-COVID related reasons but who are also fighting for their lives. That’s a total of 241 people in intensive care when normally our health care system is set up to care for about 170 people in ICU.  We are about 40 per cent above our maximum capacity and our pre-COVID record high for ICU admissions,” said Kenney. 

Dr. Verna Yiu noted that things are looking dire for Alberta’s healthcare system which is seeing the impact of the recent surge of COVID-19 cases from the third wave. 

“Our healthcare system in under significant stress more than any point during the pandemic in fact, we are experiencing several record highs across the healthcare system… We also now have the highest number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators at 222 of which more than half are COVID-19 patients,” said Yiu. 

She admitted that staffing has been difficult to manage and that several healthcare professionals, physicians, and nurses are experiencing burnout. 

Kenney noted that there are some concerns over rural areas that are facing high rates of transmission and hospitalizations.   

“Throughout the pandemic, people who live in rural areas have been more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than people living in large urban areas. Since February of this year, hospitalizations rates are 26 per cent higher and ICU rates are 30 per cent higher,” explained Kenney. 

Dr. Hinshaw echoed his concerns by noting active case rates are often higher in rural areas than in urban areas. 

“Some of these areas including Lac La Biche county, Chestermere, Airdrie, Lacombe, and Whitecourt are reporting rates higher than Edmonton and Calgary. In some, rates are double those in Edmonton,” said Hinshaw. 

The City of Lacombe has an active rate of 680.2 per 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, the active case rate in the City of Edmonton per 100,000 people is 361. 

However, the good news is that case numbers in the province are finally in a downward trend. The Premier noted that we can expect new guidelines for lifting restrictions based on hospitalizations and how many Albertans have received their vaccinations. 

“We now see case numbers coming down quickly in all parts of the province. We do expect hospitalizations to peak in the next week or two because of the time-lag effect between infection and hospitalizations but with declining COVID numbers, we can look forward to easing restrictions in the fairly near future,” added Kenney. 

2.1 million Albertans have received their first dose of vaccine and Kenney, Hinshaw and Yiu thanked them for doing so and continue to encourage other Albertans to get their shots as well. 

Provincially, Alberta reported 721 new cases from 7,002 tests completed and our positivity rate is about 10.7 per cent. Right now, 21,288 cases are active in the province. With 1,708 more people recovering, the recovered total has reached 196,246.  

There’s 678 people in the hospital with the virus, with 181 of these in intensive care. This is 31 more hospitalizations than reported yesterday and five fewer ICU admissions. In the North Zone, there’s 92 people in the hospital with 12 of these admitted to intensive care.  

Alberta has reported five more COVID-related deaths, for a total of 2,148 since the start of the pandemic.