COVID one year ago: Much worse now than it started

By Gillian Slade Southern Alberta Newspapers on April 6, 2021.

There are currently more than 10 times the active COVID cases in Alberta compared to a year ago.

April 1, 2020 — An Alberta Health press release, update a9 at 5 p.m., states there are 871 cases in the province and 12 in the South zone. There are 29 in hospital and 13 in ICU.

Exactly one year later, an Alberta Health press release, update 209 at 4:15 p.m., states there are 8,653 active cases and 864 in the South zone. There are 292 in hospital and 59 in ICU.

April 2, 2020 – Alberta Health update 20: There are 968 cases and 14 in the South zone: Taber, two; Medicine Hat, six; and Lethbridge six.

April 5, 2020 – A provincial government overview, issued by communications director John Muir, highlights a government economic “investment of $1.5 billion in the Keystone XL pipeline to accelerate construction, create jobs for Albertans and ensure it is operational by 2023.”

April 6, 2020 – Alberta Health update 24: Alberta has 1,348 confirmed cases, 24 deaths, 361 recoveries and has completed 65,914 tests.

April 8, 2020 – Premier Jason Kenney reveals in a Canadian Press story, that social distancing will continue until at least the end of April. The relaunch strategy for the province will be based on “information from countries like Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, which had more success than other nations in terms of economic activity and viral spread.”

Key to Kenney’s strategy is reaching the point of performing 20,000 COVID-19 tests each day. There will also be tests to identify positive cases and those with immunity in a more timely fashion. Technology will be used to “enforce quarantine orders.” He said Alberta plans to “encourage and facilitate the use of masks in crowded public spaces, like mass transit.”

Medicine Hat News reports Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health for Alberta, orders a province-wide ban on visitors to long-term-care facilities and licensed group homes.

April 9, 2020 – The Canadian Press reports that Hinshaw says even if the early forecast of hospitalization cases peaking in late May is accurate, it will take two or three weeks of case counts going down before restrictions can be lifted.

In a Medicine Hat News story, Jim Groom, a political science instructor at Medicine Hat College, says, “It’s going to take 10 to 15 years economically to get on our feet again.”

Alberta Health update 27: Province has 47 COVID patients in hospital and 14 in ICU.

Alberta Health’s website stated 6.4% of COVID cases are being hospitalized, 2% require ICU and there is a 2.7% death rate.

April 16, 2020 – Katherine Chubbs, chief officer for the AHS South zone (at the time), tells Medicine Hat News the goal is to have 1,500 hospital beds across the province available for COVID patients and just below 200 for the South.

Chubbs refuses to say whether there are any COVID hospital patients in the South zone, citing confidentiality.

Alberta Health update 34: Total number of cases 2,158, deaths 50 and 914 recovered. South zone, 36 cases.

April 17, 2020 – The Canadian Press reveals the effect of COVID on nursing homes is more severe than expected.

“I think one of the things we’ve seen over the past number of weeks is a far more severe impact on a number of seniors’ residences and long-term care centres than we had certainly hoped for, or than we feared,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The story also reported that Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer, said “more than 90% of the patients confirmed to have died from the virus are over the age of 60, and half of them lived in long-term care homes.”

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