1 in 6 Albertans in ICU with COVID-19 have no chronic health conditions: Hinshaw

EDMONTON — Despite a large majority of Alberta’s COVID-19 victims having at least one underlying medical condition, the ICU situation tells a different story.

As of Friday afternoon, 97.7 per cent of Albertans who have died from COVID-19 had at least one comorbidity, according to Alberta Health.

“This week, two individuals in their 30s died as a result of this virus. While both had comorbidities, these were not on their own life threatening,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, during her opening remarks at Friday’s COVID-19 update.

Dr. Hinshaw also provided a stark statistic about those who do not have comorbidities, stating one in six Albertans in ICU with COVID-19 did not have any previous underlying medical conditions.

Comorbidities are the presence of one or more additional conditions that often occur at the same time as the primary condition.

There are currently 58 people in ICU with COVID-19 in the province. Hinshaw said the average age of Albertans with COVID-19 requiring hospitalizations is dropping, but did not provide an exact figure.

More than one quarter of Albertans over the age of 20 have at least one chronic medical condition. For Albertans over 50 years old, 65 per cent have one or more chronic condition, according to Dr. Hinshaw.

Alberta Health recently unveiled a breakdown of COVID-19 deaths by comorbidity.