Here is a summary of today’s #COVID19AB update: Minister Shandro, myself & others met w/RMWB leaders today to discuss state of local emerg & ways to help support reducing transmission. We will be working w/AHS to ID ways to reduce test wait times & speed up contact tracing.(1/11)

#YMM public & Catholic school boards have moved K-6 to online learning until May 10. Similar to measures for #YMM 7-12, indoor extra-curricular activities, incl youth sport, recreation & performance will be paused/moved outdoors for K-6 until in-person learning resumes. (2/11)

The high spread we are seeing in the region is not the fault of any 1 group & is not limited to any 1 area. There are other areas of the province that are seeing extremely high case rates as well & we have an unprecedented risk of transmission across AB right now. (3/11)

Over the last 24hrs, we ID’d 1,539 new cases & completed 13.7K+ tests. Our positivity rate is 11.4%. To keep testing wait times down, we are increasing staffing & clinic hours across AB where demand is high. & shift back to offering 1 test for asymptomatic close contacts. (4/11)

As of today, close contacts will be offered testing when identified. If symptoms arise after 1st test, they can get tested again. If no symptoms, they must remain in quarantine for 14 days but can cancel their 2nd test appt. If you have symptoms, pls keep your booking. (5/11)

We have ID’d 812 new VoC cases in the last 24hrs, w/VoCs now representing 63% of active cases. For the prev week, AB R value was 1.04 incl 1.10 in #YEG Zone, 0.98 in #YYC Zone & 1.05 for the rest of AB. It is good to see growth rates decline but #s are still very high. (6/11)

There are active alerts/outbreaks in 712 schools or 29% of schools across AB. We continue to see a rise in hospitalizations. There are now 635 people in hospital being treated for COVID-19, including 143 in the ICU. (7/11)

Sadly, 7 new deaths were reported in the last 24hrs. My thoughts are w/those who recently lost someone. A recent review has found 14 prev reported deaths were not deemed to have COVID as a contributing cause, meaning AB sits at 2,067 COVID-related deaths. (8/11)

There are 20,721 active cases in AB, the 2nd most since the pandemic began. The virus is spreading through all of us & the in-person get-togethers, meet-ups & other interactions we have w/ other ppl each day. We all must limit in-person interactions as much as possible. (9/11)

We have admin 1.46M+ doses of vaccines, 30K were reported in the last 24hrs. Even if you have 1 dose you still need to be careful and follow public health measures, as it’s possible to carry the virus & be contagious to others. (10/11)

We are close to getting through this. Each one of us matters & our actions can mean the difference between life & death for those around us. Anything we can do to limit interactions w/others will help us bend the curve & move past this pandemic. (11/11)