Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says, while progress is being made when it comes to lowering the number of hospitalizations and new cases, the time still hasn’t come to loosen restrictions across Alberta.
Dr. Hinshaw says average case counts have dropped since restrictions were put in place in December, but Alberta still has the second-highest active case rate per capita in Canada. Hinshaw adds it’s also important to keep the current hospitalization numbers in mind when discussing the importance of restrictions.
“While our hospitalizations have decreased significantly from the peak, they remain high,” she says. “To put this in perspective, there are just as many COVID-19 patients in hospital today as there were on December 8th when our current restrictions were first announced”.
Hinshaw explains the health system continues to experience significant strains, and she thanks Albertans for doing their part to ease the burden as quickly as possible.
Written by Michael Lumsden, MyGrandePrairieNow.com