Following Education Ministers LaGrange's announcement that students in the province would be returning to in-class learning, Dr. Hinshaw provided some data that supported the announcement. "We have seen a sharp decline in cases in school-aged children in Alberta in the recent weeks. From an average of 60 new cases a day for every 100,000 children and youth in early May, we are now down to about 31 cases per 100,000. The data since in-person learning began have shown that cases in school-aged Albertans rise and fall in line with changes in rates of community transmission."
Wednesday, May 19 COVID-19 numbers are showing another drop.
- There were 908 new cases reported with a positivity rate of 9.1 per cent.
- There are 685 people in the hospital with 185 of those in ICU.
- Six additional deaths were reported bringing the total in the province to 2,158.
- Locally the active cases continue to drop with Cochrane seeing a decrease of 21 cases for a total of 128 and Rocky View County dropped by ten to 240.
- More than 50.5 per cent of Albertans 12 years of age and older have received a COVID vaccination.
Dr. Hinshaw also announced changes to the operational and outbreak protocols of continuing care facilities. Starting May 31, shift to a vaccination-based approach for assessing any additional precautions for new residents and residents returning to a facility from outings off-site. Further details can be found at alberta.ca.
All Albertans are encouraged to be vaccinated as soon as possible.