Quarter of Albertans have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine; Alberta surpasses 20,000 active cases

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A quarter of Albertans have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, as the number of active cases provincewide surpassed 20,000 on Sunday.

Another 37,308 doses of vaccine were administered in Alberta through the end-of-day Saturday. In total, the province has given 1,398,673 shots, which includes 271,490 second doses. This means 25.5 per cent of Albertans have received their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, and 31.4 per cent of Albertans aged 16 and over.

The seven-day average for daily shots administered is 35,946.

“One of the most important steps you can take is to be vaccinated when you’re eligible. All vaccines are safe, effective and save lives,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said on her Twitter account Sunday.

Albertans born in 1981 or earlier — those who are turning 40 or older — are currently eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are available to those aged 65 and older, First Nations individuals aged 50 and over, people with high-risk underlying health conditions aged 16 and older, and eligible front-line workers. More shipments of these vaccines are expected in May, with hundreds of thousands of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine scheduled to arrive in Alberta over the next few weeks.

While Alberta’s vaccine rollout continues, it has not been fast enough to quell the third wave of infections in the province.

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With another 1,437 cases of COVID-19 reported Sunday, Alberta surpassed 20,000 active cases for the first time in months. There are now 20,136 active cases provincewide, just several hundred cases short of Alberta’s peak during the second wave, of 20,972 active cases on Dec. 13.

The new cases reported Sunday include 932 involving variants of concern, representing 61.1 per cent of the province’s active cases. The 1,437 cases came from 17,025 completed tests for a test positivity rate of 8.4 per cent.

Alberta Health Services’ Calgary zone is home to about 42 per cent of the province’s active cases, including 5,260 active variant cases. There are a total 12,299 active variant cases in Alberta.

There are 594 people in hospital due to the novel coronavirus, including 140 patients in intensive-care units. This was an increase from the 584 in hospital on Saturday, including 129 in ICUs.

ICU admissions peaked at 151 on Dec. 28 during the second wave of the pandemic.

Three additional deaths were reported Sunday, including two men in their 70s from the Edmonton zone and a man in his 80s from the Calgary zone. Alberta’s death toll is now 2,067.

Calgary struggling with delays in testing due to backlog

The province’s third wave of novel coronavirus cases is causing Calgarians to face lengthy waits to get swabbed for the virus.

When booking a test online, residents of the Calgary zone are notified the area is “experiencing high volumes for testing.”

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Currently, Albertans are eligible to book a COVID-19 test online if they have symptoms of the virus, if they are close contacts to a confirmed case or if they are linked to a known outbreak.

On Thursday, Hinshaw acknowledged the demand for testing has recently increased.

She said those seeking appointments should look “in a broader radius” to ensure they can get swabbed.

“Alberta Health Services has added additional appointment times and is working hard to make sure that within a city or a local area there are a range of appointments and people can get a swab within 24 to 48 hours, but unfortunately that may mean they need to travel a bit farther,” Hinshaw said.

However, as of Saturday, clinics outside of Calgary — in Okotoks, Chestermere, Cochrane and Airdrie — had an even longer wait, with no available appointments until Thursday. No other testing sites were available for online booking for Calgary residents.

According to AHS, the province has capacity to complete up to 20,000 tests each day, with the ability to further scale up if needed.

Over the past four days, Alberta has processed between 17,000 and 18,500 COVID-19 tests each day.

— With files from Jason Herring 

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Twitter: @BabychStephanie