Airdrie has reported another day of a drop in COVID-19 cases, with 274 currently active, down 11 from Dec. 21.
According to airdrie.ca, there has been a total of 1,397 cases of COVID-19 reported in Airdrie throughout the pandemic. Of those cases, 1,115 people have recovered and eight deaths have been reported. There is a current infection rate of 391 per 100,000 population, a decrease of 16 from the day previous.
Currently in Airdrie, there are six schools listed on the provincial school status map for COVID-19. Herons Crossing School, École Edwards Elementary School and Windsong Heights 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.
Elsewhere, Rocky View County (RVC) has reported eleven new recoveries for the second day in a row, bringing the county's active case count down to 99. RVC's case rate is currently 228 cases per 100,000 population.
In Chestermere, there are currently 87 active cases – up five from Dec. 21 – while Cochrane is reporting 44 cases, which is four fewer than the day previous.
Three 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, while Rainbow Creek Elementary School is listed as open. On the west side of the county, Springbank Community High School has been added to the list under open status.
Provincially, there has been a total of 91,459 cases in Alberta. Of those, 19,165 are considered active, 71,434 have recovered, 795 are in hospital, 151 are in intensive care units and 860 deaths have been reported.
During chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw's Dec. 21 update, she spoke about a restriction of incoming flights from the United Kingdom for 72 hours.
"This is in response to a genetic variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 which is currently circulating in the United Kingdom," she said. "At this time, this variant appears to be more easily transmitted from person to person, meaning it can possibly spread more widely in an exposed group of people."
Hinshaw said while it is not fully confirmed, there was sufficient evidence that prompted the action. She also said it is not uncommon for new strains of viruses to emerge from time to time.
"We are taking this seriously," she said. "This new strain is yet another reminder that we cannot let our guard down with COVID-19. This is a challenging and evolving virus, and it can and will spread quickly if given the chance."
