‘These are all extreme warnings’; infectious disease expert concerned as flu season approaches
Posted Nov 5, 2020 4:18 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) — An infectious disease expert in Calgary says the increase in COVID-19 cases in Alberta should be a wake-up call to all Albertans.
Dr. Craig Jenne with the University of Calgary says we should be paying more attention to the spike of cases in the province’s hospitals.
“Hospitalization numbers have nearly doubled, our intensive care unit occupancy has tripled since late summer, and now we are seeing multiple deaths per day,” Jenne said. “So, these are all extreme warnings that this is still such a dangerous virus.”
On top of this, Jenne says it’s even more concerning that we haven’t been hit with flu cases at hospitals yet.
RELATED: 515 new cases, 5 additional deaths from COVID-19 in Alberta
Prior to Thursday’s update, of the 6,230 active cases in the province, 164 people remain in hospital with 30 in the ICU fighting the virus.
Jenne says case numbers suggest Albertans are doing a lot of things in the community that are putting us at risk.
“Clearly, we are interacting with too many people, we’re having too many exposures, and because most of these are anonymous, you know, shopping centres, social gatherings or public transit, we can’t name the people we have contact with. So, it’s impossible to identify a source or more importantly contact trace after a case has been identified.”
