A sixth health-care worker has died from COVID-19 in Alberta, as the province reports 284 new cases and five deaths on Sunday.
One of the four deaths listed in the Edmonton zone was a health-care worker at a continuing-care facility. The continuing-care worker was a man in his 50s with comorbidities, Alberta Health said.
He is the sixth health-care worker to have died from COVID-19 in Alberta. All six of these deaths have occurred within the last several weeks.
The first Alberta health-care worker to die from COVID-19 was a worker at Bethany Riverview long-term care facility in southeast Calgary on Dec. 28. Since then, two other health-care workers have died in the Calgary zone and three in the Edmonton zone.
Thousands of Alberta health-care workers have been infected with the novel coronavirus. According to Alberta Health’s statistics, 8,856 health-care workers have tested positive. The Edmonton zone has seen the majority of these cases, with 4,295, and the Calgary zone is close behind with 3,182.
There are 253 health-care workers who currently have COVID-19 and 8,597 have reportedly recovered.
The fifth death reported on Sunday was a man in his 80s from the Calgary zone. With these new deaths, Alberta’s death toll is 1,780.
The 284 new cases of COVID-19 detected Sunday came from 7,972 completed tests for a positivity rate of about 3.6 per cent. This was lower than the 3.8 per cent positivity rate on Saturday, and brings the total number of active cases in Alberta to 5,215 — only 56 fewer than the day prior.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, reminded people on Twitter Sunday to arrange for COVID-19 testing if they have symptoms. She also addressed her concerns that people might stray from the public health orders to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
“This Valentine’s Day, find safe, creative ways to remind people that they are loved. Send cards, plan a romantic meal at home with your household, or visit with loved ones virtually. We can show people they are close to our hearts without giving COVID-19 the opportunity to spread,” said Hinshaw.
This Valentine’s Day, find safe, creative ways to remind people that they are loved. Send cards, plan a romantic meal at home w/your household, or visit w/loved ones virtually. We can show people they are close to our hearts without giving #COVID19AB the opportunity to spread.
— Dr. Deena Hinshaw (@CMOH_Alberta) February 14, 2021
Hospitalizations continued their slow decline Sunday with 351 in hospital, including 60 in intensive-care units. This was fewer in hospital than on Saturday when there were 359, including 64 in ICUs.
A total of 171 variant COVID-19 cases have been identified in the province, as of Friday.
Nearly 146,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Albertans.
Just over 50,000 people in Alberta are fully immunized with their first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine and 145,841 shots have been given overall, according to Alberta Health.
