COVID-19 in Alberta: 23 deaths Friday as hospitalizations remain high

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Alberta grew by 23 on Friday, while the province also retroactively set a new pandemic record of infected patients in hospital.

The deaths bring the total number of COVID-19 deaths up to 3,741 and were of individuals ranging in age from in their 40s to more than 80 years old.

• Infographics: COVID-19 in Alberta by the numbers

The deaths reported Friday occurred over several days. Eighty-one Albertans have died due to COVID-19 over the past week.

The latest initial count of patients with COVID-19 in hospital sits at 1,566, the 14th highest to date, but also likely to rise in the coming days due to data revisions.

Tuesday’s count, initially reported as 1,623, was revised to a new record high 1,674. And, Thursday’s count of 1,586 was revised up to 1,627, the seventh highest to date.

Hospitalization data is routinely revised for accuracy and to account for reporting delays.

The 25 highest patient counts have all come in the last 25 days.

Friday’s patient count includes 127 patients in intensive care units, an increase of four over the last seven days.

There are now more than 24,000 known active cases in Alberta after 1,400 new cases were confirmed Friday. Limits to testing capacity and eligibility mean the actual number of cases is many times higher.

Unvaccinated Albertans are outnumbered nearly four-to-one by those who have had at least a first shot of vaccine, but remain many times more likely to experience a severe outcome due to COVID-19 including hospitalization or death.

Alberta has now administered more than eight million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with 80.7 per cent of the population having had at least one dose and 75.2 per cent having had two shots.

More than a third of Albertans, 34.4 per cent, have now also received a third dose. And, more than 258,000 doses have been administered to children aged between five and 11 years old.

The next data update is scheduled for Monday afternoon and will include weekend data from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.