Fort McMurray is seeing a big drop in the number of active cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced on Monday 639 new cases across the province.
This raises the provincial total to 112,091 with 13,917 currently active. There are also 811 Albertans in the hospital for the virus, 130 of which are in ICUs.
Locally, Fort McMurray added two new cases and 38 additional recoveries which lowers the active total to 241.
The rural areas saw one more recovery and a previously reported case removed from the map which puts the total of active cases at four, while there were no changes in Wood Buffalo National Park keeping the active total at four.
In total, 1,413 individuals across the RMWB – 1,288 in Fort McMurray, 120 in the rural areas, and five in Wood Buffalo National Park – have recovered.
They are among the 96,867 who’ve recovered across the province. This represents over 86 per cent of reported cases.
There were also 23 new deaths from COVID-19 in Alberta over the past 24 hours – raising the total to 1,307.
To date, three individuals in Fort McMurray have died as a result of the virus.
Vaccine Update
More essential workers are being included in phase one of the COVID-19 Vaccine rollout.
The province announced on Monday they’re expanding the eligibility for EMS workers and paramedics.
This comes a few days after allowing health-care workers in medical, surgical, and COVID-19 units to set up appointments to get the shot.
So far, nearly 47,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine have been given out. This is two-thirds of the province’s current supply.
Premier Jason Kenney says it’s very likely the province will run out of vaccines unless the federal government sends a ‘surprise’ shipment.
They’re currently averaging around 3,800 doses every day with a current goal of reaching 50,000 people a week by the end of January.
The province also expects everyone living in continuing care centres across Alberta to have received their first of two shots by the end of the week.
Phase two of the province’s vaccine deployment plan will roll out in April with the general public able to get the vaccine later into 2021.
-With files from Steph Seidel
