Chief medical officer of health COVID-19 update – November 12, 2020

Thank you Minister and thank you Premier. And good afternoon everyone.

Before I get to today’s numbers, I want to thank and recognize the many people who are working very hard in challenging settings right now.

We have seen large increases, as you’ve heard, in active cases in continuing care and in First Nations communities over the past few weeks…

And there are many, many people who are doing their best to prevent further spread in these settings.

Workers in long term care settings are going above and beyond to care for residents with complex health needs, to support those with COVID and prevent spread to others.

 I also want to specifically acknowledge the teams and leadership in the Siksika First Nation and the Saddle Lake Cree First Nation where cases have recently increased quickly.

I want to be clear that First Nations communities across the province, including these two, have done a remarkable job in protecting their communities and preventing spread.

Their current numbers, like the numbers in the rest of the province, are simply a reflection of how interconnected we all are and that rising transmission in our province impacts all of us.

No group should be targeted or stigmatized, particularly not when communities are being transparent about their challenges and working incredibly hard to bring spread under control.

We must all support each other, which includes supporting health care workers, continuing care workers, and public health workers in every community across the province.

As another example, I want to acknowledge Albertans and our Contact Tracing team, who together, notified more than 43,000 close contacts last week from November 6^th to 9^th alone.

Thank you to those Albertans who were cases or contacts and who worked with the contact tracers to prevent further spread.

We have to keep this effort up. 

Together with limiting our close contacts, maintaining physical distance, masking and staying home when sick, the efficiency and completeness of our contact tracing efforts is critical to stemming new cases in Alberta.

Today, AHS is launching a new online portal that will allow for automated texting of close contacts.

This tool will further supporting Albertans, and will help speed up contact tracing.

Albertans who receive a positive COVID-19 result will be able to visit a new online tool on the AHS website, enter information and phone numbers of known close contacts, and submit this information.

Once reviewed by the contact tracing team – including with the case - the tool will then send texts informing close contacts of their exposure, and instructing them to isolate immediately for 14 days.

It will also provide a link to further information on isolation requirements, testing options, symptoms and supports available.

This process will be completely anonymous. The name of the positive cases will not be disclosed in these messages.

It will, however, help increase our capacity and speed in this notification process. 

Turning to today’s numbers…

As the Premier said, we have identified 860 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, which raises our active case number to 8,300.

There are 225 people in hospital, including 51 in ICU. When looking at all of our rural zones combined we have crossed the threshold of 5% average daily hospital growth over two weeks.

As of today, we are sitting at 7% average daily growth in the rural zones over the past two weeks.

This week, as you know, we also hit the trigger of more than 50% of our COVID ICU capacity in use – we are currently sitting at 73% of those 70 beds.

As the Premier has said, this is deeply concerning.

In schools, there are currently active alerts or outbreaks in 307 schools.

That is about 13 per cent of schools in the province. Currently these schools have 1,031 active cases in total.

This number includes 62 schools that are currently on the watch list.

So far, in-school transmission has likely occurred in 141 schools. Of these, about half had only one new case as a result.

Schools continue to mirror the rise in transmission that is being seen in our communities and this community transmission rise is putting them at risk.

Sadly, I must report that there have been 10 new deaths. 

My thoughts go out to everyone who has lost a loved one during this difficult time.  

This is yet another stark reminder of the deadly potential of this virus and why we must take steps to reduce community transmission.

As the Premier said, the rising hospitalizations and ICU admissions are threatening our ability to deliver health services and support Albertans’ overall health and well-being.

We must reduce the growth of COVID-19, and we must do it soon.

I know that these measures will be challenging for many people.

I had the privilege of speaking with many people from some of the sectors that these new measures will impact, and I know this next while will be hard for many.

 I want to thank those business leaders who will be impacted by these measures, but who are working with us to make sure activities are even safer when reopening happens.

I want to reiterate the importance of finding other ways to be active in the next two weeks for those whose fitness or creative activities are paused.

And at the same time every one of us must do our part to embrace the measures that the Premier just announced.

If you live in an area with enhanced measures, we need you to take action immediately.

Please limit your social interactions with friends, extended family and others outside your household wherever possible.

Please do not have anyone who doesn’t live with you over to your house for any non-essential visits.

 To be clear, this does not apply to blended families or shared households, it simply applies to non-essential visits in homes.

These should not be happening right now.

If you can start meeting friends or family members via Skype or Zoom, please start today.

Now is the time to reduce the number of cohorts we are in and make changes to our lives to make it less likely that we will be exposed to COVID-19 or pass the virus to others.

We are all in this together, and we must face this challenge together.

Thank you, and we are now happy to answer any questions that you may have.