A significant number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Alberta this past Friday though there appears to be some discrepancy between the online data and the actual daily tally.
Online data shows 177 new cases were confirmed on Friday alone which is the highest daily total Alberta has seen since May 1st when the province reported 218 new cases.
As for the rest of the weekend, there were 86 new cases on Saturday and 96 on Sunday for a total of 359 over those three days.
However, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw took to Twitter Monday afternoon to clarify that there were actually only 103 new cases on Friday for a weekend total of 285.
She says “case numbers historically go up and down a little each day as probable cases are reconciled. Today’s (Monday’s) numbers include 74 cases from before Aug.14 that were reconciled in the database on this day. This is a much larger than usual number of reconciled cases reported in one day. To be clear, these 74 cases are not attributed to new case information from August 14, 15 or 16. On August 14, 103 new cases were reported, August 15, 86 new cases were reported and August 16, 96 cases were reported.”
Hinshaw says she’ll share more information on these numbers during her media update Tuesday afternoon.
There are currently 45 people being treated in hospital and 10 of those are in the ICU.
There were also three additional COVID-19 related deaths bringing the provincial total to 224.
One of those deaths was recorded here in the South Zone, in Cardston County, which now has five COVID-related fatalities.