Dr. Deena Hinshaw to update Albertans about COVID-19
Alberta plans to massively increase COVID-19 testing, with the goal of performing 20,000 tests each day by late May.
More than 77,000 people have been tested so far, with labs in the province currently able to conduct about 7,400 tests daily.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, will give her latest update on testing and case numbers at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday during a teleconference from Edmonton.
You can watch the livestream here.
The province reported two more deaths on Monday, bringing the total to 46.
With 81 new cases recorded, the total number of confirmed cases reached 1,732 on Monday. Of that total, 877 people have recovered from the illness.
On Monday, Hinshaw announced that testing protocols have now been expanded to include anyone in Alberta with fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose or sore throat.
“As long as we maintain our testing and lab capacity, it is my hope that we can continue to offer this broad access to testing,” she said.
“Going forward, testing all symptomatic Albertans will give us a more complete picture of trending over time.”
Late last week the province banned all visitors at nursing homes and seniors’ residences, which have been hit hard by COVID-19.
As of Monday, 199 of Alberta’s 1,732 confirmed cases have been among residents of long-term care homes. Residents of long-term care facilities account for 29 of the 46 total COVID-19 deaths in the province.
The hardest-hit facility is the McKenzie Towne continuing care facility in Calgary, where two more deaths were reported on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths there to 20.
Four residents have died at Manoir Du Lac in McLennan, Alta., 440 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. The facility said Tuesday it has seven active cases and four residents who have recovered from the illness.
Shepherd’s Care Kensington Village in Edmonton has been dealing with an outbreak since mid-March. As of Tuesday, 16 residents at the facility had tested positive and two residents had died from COVID-19. Four staff and two AHS caseworkers had also tested positive, the facility said on its website.