Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations nearing low of 700, 21 deaths added

Alberta now has 702 people in hospital with COVID-19, 25 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

That is a decrease of 76 hospitalizations and four ICU admissions when compared to last week's update.

The last time that Alberta's hospitalization numbers were this low was at the end of July when 704 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 778 to 813 and ICU admissions from 29 to 30.

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According to the province, 293 of the 813 people in hospital with COVID-19 last week were hospitalized for reasons directly related to the virus, while the other 520 people were admitted for other reasons, but incidentally tested positive. In the ICU, 33 per cent of patients were being treated because of COVID-19.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths went up by 21. Of the new deaths reported, 14 were retroactively added to past weeks, while seven belong to this week.

Since its last data update, Alberta Health has counted 596 new COVID-19 cases in 5,078 PCR tests. That is a decrease of 52 cases and 322 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 12.12 per cent.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

On Jan. 30, 2021, 528 Albertans were hospitalized with COVID-19. In 2022, 1,581 patients were in hospital with the virus while there were 702 people this year.

In 2021, there were 101 people with COVID-19 in intensive care on Jan. 30, compared to last year's 103 and this year's 25.

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, there were 2,101 deaths.

There have been 66 COVID-19-related deaths in the first 30 days of this year, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 5,486.

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