COVID-19 in Alberta: Hospitalizations up 96 per cent over the past 2 weeks

The number of Albertans in hospital with COVID-19 has nearly doubled over the last two weeks and surpassed 800 for the first time since late October, according to the province’s latest data update.

There are now 822 COVID-19 patients in hospital, an increase of 230 from a week ago, and 403 from two weeks ago, or a jump of more than 96 per cent in the last two weeks.

The 822 includes 81 patients in intensive care units, a number that has risen by 30 from two weeks ago.

Six children under the age of 10 years old were among those admitted to hospital over the last day.

Also Friday, the province reported five more COVID-19 deaths, all of them in individuals over the age of 80 years old.

The province reported 6,163 new COVID-19 cases on 16,500 tests, and there are now more than 64,000 known active cases in the province.

This week, the province introduced a number of new restrictions to testing eligibility with its chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, estimating the true case count was more than 10 times than indicated by PCR results.

Just over eight million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta to date with 79.9 per cent of all Albertans having had at least a first dose and 73.4 per cent having had a second dose.

More than a quarter of all Albertans, 28 per cent, have also had a booster dose.

Compared to those with two doses, unvaccinated Albertans remain multiple times more likely to suffer a severe outcome such as hospitalization or death.

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