Over half of 576 new cases recorded are COVID-19 variants
Posted Mar 30, 2021 4:51 pm.
Last Updated Mar 30, 2021 6:34 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Alberta saw a staggering rise in new COVID-19 cases including the much more contagious variants.
Out of the 576 cases reported, 332 were the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the U.K.
Variant cases now make up 30 per cent of all active cases in the province.
The province completed over 8,000 tests with the positively rate currently sitting at 7.1 per cent.
Four more deaths were reported bringing the death toll to 1,987.
Hospitalizations also climbed past 300 which is the benchmark the province uses to determine if restrictions can be eased.
NEW:
A record 332 new variant cases reported in Alberta.
2,376 active variant cases (29.8% of total)
1,250 recovered, 23 died.#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/7JliKmRo96
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) March 30, 2021
Minister of Health Tyler Shandro announced on March 22, that the province would not move into step 3 of reopening as hospitalizations and variant cases were trending in the wrong direction.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, did not hold a live COVID-19 update on Tuesday but took to Twitter to tell Albertans their decision matter in the fight against the variants of concern.
“Stay home if you’re feeling unwell and continue to limit in-person gatherings. Please continue to respect public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to protect those around you,” she said.
B.C. introduced circuit breaker restrictions on Monday, in response to worries that more infectious variants are driving exponential growth of COVID-19 cases in the province.
Those restrictions included a ban on indoor dining at bars and restaurants and indoor group activity at fitness centres for at least the next three weeks.
Dr. John Conly, Infectious Disease Physician With The University Of Calgary, doesn’t believe Alberta should follow in B.C.’s footsteps because the population contracting the virus is different.
“The situation in B.C. is different than that in Alberta,” he said.
“[B.C.] tends to have an older demographic, we have a younger demographic in terms of population.”
“I don’t think they have immunized as briskly in their elderly population just because of sheer volume, so again, their demographics are little different from what we are experiencing in Alberta.”
The majority of new COVID-19 cases in Alberta come from those aged 20-39.
Dr. Conly believes Alberta could bend the curve by introducing targeted measures similar to what the U.K. has done.
“In England, they were able to beat back the variants without doing a lot of dramatic shifting,” he said.
“I think I would sit tight at this point.”
Alberta health officials continue to monitor all the data to determine if additional measures might be needed.
