Death tally at continuing care facilities: 64

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, reports three COVID-19 fatalities today – all of whom were residents of continuing care facilities, including the J.B. Wood Continuing Care Centre in High Prairie within the North Zone. The death at J.B. Wood has been its second case related to COVID-19.

Deaths at continuing care facilities now account for 64 of the 92 coronavirus-related fatalities in Alberta.

Within a 24-hour reporting cycle, cases in these facilities across the province have also jumped by 77 to 580, Alberta Health data showed.

Recovered cases in the past 24 hours were 198, and new cases, 218. Total cases in Alberta are at 5,573; of that, 2,359, or 42.33%, have recovered.

“Older age continues to be the most significant risk factor for severe outcomes, with those over 65 years of age being almost five times more likely to need hospital care or to die than those under 65. The risk of these severe outcomes increases the older a person is, so risk is higher for those over 80 than for those between 65 and 79,” Dr. Hinshaw said.

But, while older individuals are at highest risk of severe symptoms, “COVID-19 does not discriminate by age,” she explained, adding that the average age of cases, so far, is 41.5.

One of the key findings also gathered was that people in the 30-64 age range are more likely to have a severe outcome, needing hospitalization or intensive care treatment or, in the worst outcome, leading to death, if they had one of these pre-existing conditions: cancer, diabetes, high-blood pressure, respiratory disease, and immune deficiency disease.

Below is a breakdown, by health zones, of COVID-19 cases across the province.