EDMONTON, AB – It appears the province’s tougher COVID-19 restrictions put in place three weeks ago are working.
Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Tuesday we’ve seen a remarkable drop in active case counts since early May.
“In fact, actives cases have declined 52% from their peak earlier this month,” Hinshaw said. “We are now seeing promising declines in hospitalization numbers and we have started to see our positivity rate decline as well.”
On Tuesday, the province reported 387 new cases which is the lowest in several weeks. The number of people getting tested for COVID-19 in going down too with just 4,000 tests province-wide since Monday. Hospitalizations are back below 600 at 565 and the number of ICU patients with COVID sits at 158.
Hinshaw hinted again Tuesday afternoon Alberta is getting close “to easing things up in the near future.” She said the best thing Albertans can do right now to drive down new case numbers even more is to get vaccinated.
As of Tuesday, more than 2.5 million Albertans had received at least one dose of vaccine which accounts to nearly 50% of the province’s eligible population.
“With cases declining and more vaccines being administered everyday, we are rapidly approaching a point when we can safely begin to ease measures. It’s close and getting closer everyday,” said Hinshaw.
Premier Jason Kenney wasn’t part of Tuesday’s provincial COVID-19 briefing, however he made mention on social media over the long weekend that some positive changes would be announced in the coming days, “We’ll have some exciting news this week about the great Alberta summer that lies ahead!”
Late Tueasday afternoon the province sent out a media notice saying Kenney will announce the province’s strategy for opening this summer at 11:30 Wednesday. He’ll be joined by Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Jobs Minister Doug Schweitzer.
Happy Victoria Day! The weather’s not cooperating everywhere, but I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend.
With Covid numbers coming down, kids will be back to school tomorrow, and we’ll have exciting news this week about the great Alberta summer that lies ahead! pic.twitter.com/BaFjpvitPR
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) May 24, 2021