Alberta's health minister says COVID-19 case growth 'to be expected'
Thursday was another day of COVID-19 case increases in Alberta, but Health Minister Tyler Shandro says there's no reason to panic as the province heads into triple digits once again.
Alberta announced 106 new cases Thursday. 38 of those were in the Calgary zone, where there's been an alarming 81 per cent increase in the seven day average of new cases.
Much of that is being driven by those in the 20 to 40-year-old age group.
"That's to be expected throughout the summer," Shandro said. "The numbers are going to go up and they will go down. Our hospitalizations, those lagging metrics, are still trending in the right direction.
"The message is still that vaccines work. Vaccines are safe and effective and they are our way of getting numbers down."
UNVACCINATED INDIVIDUALS VULNERABLE
Ninety-six per cent of Alberta's cases in 2021 have been in unvaccinated individuals or in those still within a two-week window of their first dose.
"We still have more than a million Albertans who don't have a single vaccine in their arm," emergency room physician Joe Vipond told CTV News. "In particular, anybody less than 12 years old is not able to get a vaccine, so we still need to protect those people who cannot be vaccinated and those who will not be vaccinated."
Vipond called the case growth "alarming."
Dr. Joe Vipond
"We have had five days of increasingly increasing growth," he said. "That's not a comfortable stat."
The province is hoping its latest initiative to make vaccines as accessible as possible will make a dent in Alberta's relatively low immunization rates.
A new mobile clinic -- one of only two in the country -- will bring first and second doses to rural communities where uptake is low.
That will include some hard to reach populations and remote camps across the province.
The clinic will start operating next week.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre will do 'anything to win,' must condemn Alex Jones endorsement: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
New evidence challenges the Pentagon's account of a horrific attack as the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan: CNN exclusive
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
All Alberta wildfires to date in 2024 believed to be human-caused: province
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
Video shows suspects waving weapons, smashing glass in Toronto jewelry store robbery
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
Pilot proposes to flight attendant girlfriend in front of passengers
A Polish pilot proposed to his flight attendant girlfriend during a flight from Warsaw to Krakow, and she said yes.
Ottawa injects another $36M into fund for those seriously injured or killed by vaccines
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Ex-SNC executive sentenced to prison term in bridge bribery case
The RCMP says a former SNC-Lavalin executive has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in connection with a bribery scheme for a bridge repair contract in Montreal.