Airdrie has reported 309 active cases of COVID-19, down three from Dec. 16.
According to the provincial regional status map, there is a current infection rate of 441 per 100,000 population. In addition, a total of 1,304 cases have been reported in Airdrie. Of those cases, 948 have recovered and eight deaths have been reported.
Additional restrictions that started Dec. 13 are set to be in place until at least Jan. 10.
Six Airdrie schools are currently listed on the provincial school status map for COVID-19. Windsong Heights School, Bert Church High School and École Edwards Elementary School are listed under "watch" with five or more active cases, while W.H. Croxford High School, Good Shepherd School and Ralph McCall School are listed under "open," with two to four active cases.
Outside the city, Rocky View County (RVC) has reported nine new cases, bringing the county's active case count to 125. RVC's case rate is currently 288 cases per 100,000 population.
Other municipalities in the region have seen their COVID-19 numbers decline. In Chestermere, there are currently 79 active cases – a decrease of eight from Dec. 15 – while Cochrane is reporting 54 cases, which is one fewer than the day before.
Two schools in Chestermere are listed on the Alberta government's COVID-19 school status map – Chestermere High School and Chestermere Lake Middle School are currently under watch. On the west side of the county, Cochrane High School is currently listed as open and Springbank Community High School has been added to the list under open status.
Provincially, Alberta reported 1,270 new cases Dec. 16. According to Alberta.ca, there have been a total of 84,597 confirmed cases of the virus. Of those cases, 20,169 are considered active, 63,668 people have recovered, 749 patients are in hospital and 139 are in intensive care units.
According to the government, 760 Albertans have died from COVID-19. Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said during her Dec. 16 briefing the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the province this year has surpassed the number of deaths from the flu in the last decade.
"It is a sobering statistic that, in less than 10 months, more Albertans have now died from COVID-19 than have died from influenza in the last 10 years combined," she said. "Each death is a reminder that we must reduce the spread as quickly as possible."
