In Alberta today (Oct. 29), 477 new cases of COVID-19 were reported from more than 12,000 tests.  

There are 4,921 active cases, with 21,803 recoveries. Since yesterday’s numbers, there’s been 344 new recoveries.  

Currently, 130 people are hospitalized, five more than yesterday, with 18 of these in intensive care, one less than yesterday. 

Dr. Hinshaw says they are continuing to monitor our hospital capacity closely. In Edmonton, hospitalizations are still causing elective surgeries to be postponed. She says protecting our health care system is one of the reasons new measures were announced for Edmonton and Calgary on Monday and why we all need to do our part to prevent the spread. 

There were five more deaths announced today for a total of 318. 

In Grande Prairie, six new cases were added today, and seven people recovered. This leaves 92 active cases in the City, with 167 recoveries.  

In the County, two new cases were found, and three people recovered. There are now 18 active cases and 72 recoveries.  

The MD of Greenview added one case, the MD of Peace added two and Birch Hills County had one removed, leaving zero active cases. 

Peace Region totals: 

In her update today, Dr. Hinshaw announced a change in the symptom checklist for those under 18 in school and child-care settings that will start Monday, Nov. 2.  

One of these changes is removing runny nose and sore throat from the list of symptoms that require mandatory self-isolation. Dr. Hinshaw says that they have had very few positive COVID-19 tests from children with just one of these symptoms. The symptoms by themselves are poor indicators of whether a child has COVID-19.  

This change is only for those with no known exposure. If they are a close contact of a confirmed case, just a runny nose or sore throat would be enough to recommend testing and require self-isolation at home. 

The second change is a shift towards a more targeted checklist, taking in mind the total number of symptoms a child has. If the child has one of the core symptoms, cough, fever, shortness of breath and loss of taste or smell they’ll still need to isolate or get have a negative test result and resolved symptoms before resuming activities.  

The change is a strategic approach with the other symptoms. If someone under 18 has only one of the other symptoms, they will only have to stay home for one day and monitor symptoms. If they improve, they’ll be able to leave isolation. If they have more than one symptom, or it gets worse, they will need to stay home until better and possibly get tested. 

The new list is available HERE.

Other areas, like B.C., have made similar changes and have not seen a rise in cases. These changes should help get students back to school as quickly as possible, while still taking precautions against COVID-19. It should also reduce pressure on parents with scheduling and help the system focus on those at higher risk for having the virus 

Dr. Hinshaw will provide her next COVID-19 update on Tuesday, Nov. 3. There is a system upgrade happening over the weekend, and no numbers will be reported on Monday. 

Watch today’s full update here: