City of Red Deer now has one active case, a decrease of two since Monday. In total, the city has confirmed 32 cases.

Officials declared 187 new COVID-19-related cases Tuesday. That brings the total to 3,095.

Central Alberta cases remains at 77.

Alberta government confirmed there are no COVID-19 cases in the shelter system in the province Tuesday.

Minister of children’s services, Rebecca Schulz, said homeless shelter operators have activated 14 additional shelter facilities in the province to ensure shelter users who are well, and not showing symptoms can practice social distancing.

Additional shelters are now operational in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Grande Prairie, she confirmed.

The government is in talks with local AHS officials, municipality and shelter operators to begin to use hotels and motels as assisted isolation shelters, Schulz said.

“We’ve now identified nearly 200 hotel rooms to shelter people who test positive for COVID-19, in additional to the 200 spaces at the Expo shelter in Edmonton.

“Most of these hotels are now operational and accepting clients.”

City of Lacombe cases remains at two recovered.

Red Deer County has 12 cases: one active and 11 recovered.

The province confirmed two additional deaths Tuesday, bringing the total deaths to 61.

The bulk of cases remains in Calgary zone at 2,204, 446 in Edmonton, 200 in south zone and 148 in north zone.

There are 367 at continuing care facilities throughout the province.

There are 1,273 recovered cases in Alberta, an increase of 43 since Monday.

The number of completed tests in the province is at 109,015.

Alberta is reporting locations of active outbreaks in acute care and continuing care facilities when there are two or more cases. The list on the government’s website do not list any central zone sites.

Chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said having two or more cases at a facility indicates that community transmission has happened at that facility.

Chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the general public can use masks, in addition to, not in replacement for all other guidance such as regular handwashing, not touching your face and staying home when feeling sick.

The virus has been with Albertans for almost two months, said Hinshaw, adding that people are wondering when we can re-open again.

Although, current numbers are lower than what the provincial model predicted, the problem still remains with us, she said.

“We can think about this virus as a tidal wave that could have swept in and left a trail of destruction behind,” she explained. “This didn’t happen because we collectively formed a barrier, by our actions, to prevent the full force of this wave from striking us.”

“We’ll need to keep following core elements of public health measures for many months to come, even as we plan to open businesses, we need to seek a balance between minimizing virus spread, and ensuring our society can function to support the best mental, physical and economic health of all of us.”

This means following measures such as washing hands regularly and keeping two metres apart from others.



mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com

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