Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations decline continues, 46 deaths added

Alberta now has 554 people in hospital with COVID-19, 15 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

That is a decrease of 21 hospitalizations and one ICU admission compared to last week's update.

The last time Alberta's hospitalization numbers were this low was Jul. 15, when 553 people were admitted.

Alberta Health data is routinely updated for accuracy and to account for reporting delays. Last week’s hospital numbers were retroactively increased from 575 to 595.

According to the province, 239 of the 595 people in hospital with COVID-19 last week were hospitalized for reasons directly related to the virus, while the other 356 people were admitted for other reasons, but incidentally tested positive. In the ICU, 38 per cent of patients were being treated because of COVID-19.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths went up by 46. Of the new deaths reported, eight were retroactively added to 2022, while 38 were added to this year. Six of those 38 deaths belong to this week.

Since its last data update, Alberta Health has counted 385 new COVID-19 cases in 4,765 PCR tests. That is a decrease of 42 cases and 345 tests compared to last week's update.

The number of new cases is likely higher because of testing limitations and because the province doesn't count positive results from rapid tests.

The average positivity rate is now at 8.47 per cent.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

On Feb. 27, 2021, 254 Albertans were hospitalized with COVID-19. In 2022, 1,256 patients were in hospital with the virus, while there were 554 people this year.

In 2021, there were 45 people with COVID-19 in intensive care on Feb. 27, compared to last year's 81 and this year's 15.

It is not known how many people in 2020 and 2021 were hospitalized and admitted to the ICU because of the virus versus people who were admitted for other reasons and incidentally tested positive, as that statistic was only made available by Alberta Health as of February 2022.

Alberta had 1,213 COVID-19-related deaths in 2020 and 2,106 in 2021. Last year had the highest number of fatalities, with 2,112.

There have been 171 COVID-19-related deaths to date, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 5,602.

The next data update is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 8.