Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Friday, April 16

The latest COVID-19 numbers and restrictions:

• Alberta reported 1,616new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as the province's third wave approaches the height of its second wave in December.
• Alberta's totalactive cases now sit at16,759 on Friday, up536 from Thursday.
• Nearly half the cases are in Calgary, while a quarter are in Edmonton.
• To date, 149,000 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19.
• The more dangerous and highly transmissible variant cases continue to surge and are now the dominant strains of the virus in Alberta,accounting for 53.5per cent of total active cases.

(Note the latest daily count of new cases in the above chart will usually vary slightly from the net new cases Alberta Health announces each day. For more on why, click here.)

• There were 423people in hospital, 93of whom are in intensive care. There were no new deaths reported, leaving thetotal of deaths in the province at2,034.
• The provincial positivity rate is 9.1per cent, and the R-value is 1.12, meaning that, on average, each person with COVID-19will infect more than one other person.
• This week,Calgary public and Catholic schools said they were shiftingall Grades 7 to 12 students to online learning on Monday due to a large increase in COVID-19 cases among students in that age group.
• Officials said Thursday that education leaders in Edmonton were considering followingCalgary's lead.
• Also effective next Monday,all extracurricular youth sport, recreational and performance activities in Calgary must either take place outdoors or be paused for twoweeks.The pause applies to all Calgary youth in Grades 712, including home-schooled students.
• As of Thursday, there were alerts or outbreaks at 478 schools, which represents20 per cent of allschools in Alberta,with 2,772 cases in total.

Hinshaw says AstraZeneca vaccine benefits outweigh risks

3 years ago

Duration 1:21

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, spoke at length Thursday about the importance of vaccination, which she says trumps the rare risks associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The latest on vaccines:

• On Thursday, Alberta health officials once again urged eligible Albertans to get a vaccine as soon as possible, regardless of type as mass AstraZeneca-Oxfordvaccination clinicsimmunizethousands fewer people a day than they could.
• Phase 2 of theAstraZeneca-Oxford rolloutbegan April 6, toAlbertans born from 1957 to 1966who do not have chronic underlying health conditions, through hundreds of pharmacies and mass vaccination clinics in Edmonton and Calgary.
• The massclinic at the Edmonton Expo Centrecanadminister7,000AstraZenecashots perday, but did 280 on Wednesday, while the mass clinic at the CalgaryTelus Convention Centrehas also faced low appointment numbers.
• Alberta officials say part of the issue is hesitancy brought on by reports of extremely rare blood clots occurring in people who have received AstraZeneca, also known as Covishield.

• The risk of a blood clot is exponentially higher for people who become infected with COVID-19 than for those who receiveAstraZeneca, Hinshaw stressed again on Thursday.
• About one in four people hospitalized with COVID-19 get blood clots, she said, while Alberta has seen no cases of ablood clot associated with the85,500 AstraZenecadoses given out.
• It is far more likely to experience blood clots from smoking, falls/injuries and other common everyday occurrences, Alberta Health Services said.
• Conversely, AstraZeneca's first dose reduces infection by 60 to 70 per cent and, importantly, hospitalization and risk of death is reduced by 80 per cent.
• Starting Saturday, AHSwill accept walk-ins for the AstraZeneca vaccineat the existing rapid flow clinic at the Edmonton EXPO Centre and at the Southport clinic in Calgary.
• Phase 2C of the rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTechandModerna vaccines began on Monday, expanding to include 240,000nurses, doctors, dentists and any health-care workers in patient care facilities or providing direct patient care in the community.
• Other groups in 2C,like residents and support staff at congregate living facilities at risk for large outbreaks like correctional facilities, homeless shelters, meat-packing plants and group homes, and caregivers of Albertans at risk of severe outcomes, are expected to begin in the following weeks.
• Alberta had delivered1,043,570vaccine doses and fully immunized202,841peoplewith two doses of vaccine as of Thursday.

Mayor Nenshi received his COVID-19 vaccine

3 years ago

Duration 0:23

Calgarys Mayor Naheed Nenshi rolled up his sleeve at the Telus Convention Centre's mass vaccination clinic last night.

The latest on more dangerous variants:

• There were 898 new casesinvolvingvariants of concern on Friday.
• There are more than8,967active variant cases,which comprise more than 53.5per cent of all active cases.
• 5,834peoplehaverecovered and 49people have died from variant infections.
• As of Friday,Alberta had had14,667cases linked to variant B117, first detected in the United Kingdom. Another 30cases have been linked to variant B1351, first detected in South Africa, and153cases have been linked to variant P1, which is now spreading widely inBrazil.

The latest on restrictions and reopenings:

• Amid the surging COVID-19 and variant cases, on April 6 the Alberta government reimposed Step 1 restrictions, including closing restaurants and bars to in-person dining, lowering retail store capacity to 15 per cent and banning low-intensity group fitness activities.
• Hinshaw warned this week thatif case and hospitalization growth does not slow soon, further public health measures may be required.
• However, governmentofficials say they areoptimistic that outdoor festivals and events such as the Calgary Stampede will go ahead this summer.

See which regions are being hit hardest:

Here is thedetailed regional breakdownof active cases as reported Friday by the province:

• Calgary zone:7,453, up from 7,329 reported on Thursday(58,106recovered).
• Edmonton zone: 4,388, up from4,201(56,611 recovered).
• North zone: 2,285, up from2,174(14,353recovered).
• South zone: 928, down from930,(8,203recovered).
• Central zone:1,629, up from1,515 (11,592recovered).
• Unknown: 76, up from74(29recovered).

You can see active cases by local health area on the following interactive map. Scroll, zoom and click on the map for more information:

Find out which neighbourhoods or communities have the most cases, how hard people of different ages have been hit, the ages of people in hospital, how Alberta compares to other provinces and more in: Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta and what they mean.

Here are the latest Alberta COVID-19 stories:

How Alberta compares to other provinces and territories:

• For the latest on what's happening in the rest of Canada and around the world, seehere.