Nearly nine months since Airdrie reported its first case of COVID-19, the city has now surpassed 1,300 total cases.
Of the 1,304 reported cases, according to airdrie.ca, 312 are currently active, 948 have recovered and eight deaths have been reported. Additionally, according to the provincial relaunch status map, there is a current infection rate of 445 per 100,000 population.
Additional restrictions that started Dec. 13 are set to be in place until at least Jan. 10.
Seven Airdrie schools are currently listed on the provincial school status map for COVID-19. Windsong Heights School, Bert Church High School, École Edwards Elementary School and Herons Crossing School are listed under “watch” with five or more active cases, while W.H. Croxford High School, Good Shepherd School and Ralph McCall School are listed under “open,” with two to four active cases.
Outside the city, Rocky View County (RVC) has reported five new recoveries, bringing the county’s active case count to 116. RVC’s case rate is currently 267 cases per 100,000 population.
Other municipalities in the region have seen their COVID-19 numbers decline. In Chestermere, there are currently 87 active cases – a decrease of three from Dec. 15 – while Cochrane is reporting 55 cases, which is five fewer than the day before.
Two schools in Chestermere are listed on the Alberta government’s COVID-19 school status map – Chestermere High School and Chestermere Lake Middle School are currently under watch. On the west side of the county, Cochrane High School is currently listed as open and Springbank Community High School has been added to the list under open status.
Provincially, Alberta reported 1,341 new cases Dec. 15, as well as 11 deaths. According to Alberta.ca, there have been a total of 83,327 confirmed cases of the virus. Of those cases, 20,649 are considered active, 61,934 people have recovered, 742 patients are in hospital and 137 are in intensive care units. According to the government, 744 Albertans have died from COVID-19.
On a more positive note, the Alberta government has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations to healthcare professionals. Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced Dec. 14 that approximately 29,000 vaccines will be provided by the end of December. Shandro said the provincial government has received 3,900 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine and anticipates receiving an additional 25,350 by the start of next week.
