Alberta’s COVID fatality rate levels off as more testing now done
By GILLIAN SLADE on December 2, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade While cases of COVID-19 and deaths in Alberta are climbing fast over the past month, the province’s fatality rate has declined since April. Official numbers from Alberta Health at the end of April show that 1.6 per cent of those who tested positive ended up dying. That figure has dropped to a current 0.9 per cent, according to Alberta Health’s website. By April 30, there had been 5,355 positive cases in Alberta, and by Nov. 29 that number had climbed to 58,177. However, fewer than 15,000 tests had been done by April 30, while close to 1.5 million have now been administered. On April 30 there were 90 people in Alberta hospitals with COVID, and on Nov. 29 there were 453. There had been 89 deaths by the end of April and there are now 551. Alberta Health says the current rate of hospitalization is 3.3 per cent, with 0.6 per cent ending up in ICU. Towards the end of April those numbers were 4.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent. A spokesperson for Alberta Health says there are a number of contributing factors to the fatality rate levelling off. “We have also seen an increase in the number of cases being identified among those under 40, who are less likely to experience severe outcomes,” said Tom McMillan, assistant director of communications. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, commented during a press briefing on Monday, which can be listened to online, about the specific demographic for hospitalization not having changed much but there has been a decrease in the average age of fatalities linked to COVID. We have a “better understanding of the kinds of treatments that help people to do better with respect to COVID-19,” said Hinshaw. There have also been additional measures and guidelines introduced in seniors’ residences to limit the spread of the virus. The government’s data for Nov. 29, 2020 indicates 453 cases with COVID in hospitals across the province but the number of influenza cases is zero. According to data released on Nov. 30, 2017 Alberta already had 1,147 active cases of influenza A and B. This flu season, to date, there are no laboratory confirmed cases of influenza. On Nov. 28, 2019 the number of influenza cases was significant with 463 laboratory-confirmed cases and 99 in hospital. 15-14
