by Morinville News Staff
After its largest single-day increase, Alberta saw confirmed cases of COVID-19 rise by 31 in the last 24 hours to 226 in the province, the majority of those (62%) still being in the Calgary Zone.
Eleven individuals are hospitalized with six of those in Intensive Care Units (ICU). The Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcia Johnson, in her report Saturday afternoon, said three patients have now recovered with no additional recoveries reported since yesterday.
One of the province’s current cases is in a nursing home; however, Alberta Health is not identifying which home that is.
To date, there has only been one death related to the illness, a man in his 60s from the Edmonton Zone with underlying medical conditions.
Alberta Health’s geographical data now shows there are now four cases of COVID-19 in Sturgeon County West, which includes Bon Accord and Morinville, as well as surrounding rural areas.
That number is one less than the previous day’s total. Morinville News cannot confirm if one of the previous five has recovered or if the March 20 data was incorrect in listing five cases in this area.
In answer to a reporter’s question about the decrease in new cases from Friday’s 49 to Saturday’s 31, Johnson said it is only one data point, and too soon to say if social distancing played a role in the reduced number.
As of March 21, 23,742 people have been tested for COVID-19 with 226 testing positively.
Up-to-the-minute information on COVID-19 in Alberta is available at https://www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx?.
