COVID-19 in Alberta: Hospitalizations remain above 1,000 for eighth week

A healthcare worker pushes a patient across a connecting bridge at a hospital in Montreal, Thursday, July 14, 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Alberta now has 1,141 Albertans in hospital with the coronavirus, 40 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

That is an increase of 51 hospitalizations and four ICU admissions based off of last week’s update.

Alberta Health data is routinely updated for accuracy and to account for reporting delays, meaning last week’s hospital numbers were retroactively increased from 1,090 to 1,150 while ICU numbers were retroactively changed from 36 to 40. 

There have not been fewer than 1,000 patients in hospital for eight consecutive weeks, and the number of patients has grown by 112 over the same time period.

Alberta reported 44 new deaths in its weekly COVID-19 data update on Wednesday.

Of those deaths, 11 were attributed to this week, while the other 33 were retroactively added between Sept. 20 and Nov. 7.

The provincial death toll now sits at 5,137.

Alberta Health counted 1,344 new COVID-19 cases in 9,464 PCR tests. That is a decrease of 57 cases compared to the week prior.

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

HOW DOES IT COMPARE

On Nov. 14, 2021, there were 524 Albertans hospitalized for COVID-19. This year there are more than double that amount, with 1,141 patients in hospital with the virus.

The wave that started in Aug. 2021 and steadily grew throughout the fall reached its peak on Sep. 27 with 1,130 people in hospital and began to descend shortly thereafter. Alberta reached the same amount of hospitalizations by Oct. 23 of this year, hitting a peak high of 1,166. However, hospitalizations have not begun to decline.

In 2021, there were 95 people in intensive care on Nov. 14, compared to this year's 40 and 57 in 2020.

Alberta’s fall wave in 2021 saw the highest number of patients requiring intensive care in the entirety of the pandemic, with 257 people in the ICU with COVID-19 at its peak on Sept. 28.

Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 14, 2021, 1,987 deaths were attributed to COVID-19 compared to 1,819 in 2022.

The next data update is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 23.