Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations below 600, 20 deaths added

Alberta now has 575 people in hospital with COVID-19, 16 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

That is a decrease of 47 hospitalizations and three ICU admissions compared to last week's update.

The last time Alberta's hospitalization numbers were this low was in mid-July when 560 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 622 to 643.

According to the province, 252 of the 643 people in hospital with COVID-19 last week were hospitalized for reasons directly related to the virus, while the other 391 people were admitted for other reasons, but incidentally tested positive. In the ICU, 37 per cent of patients were being treated because of COVID-19.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths went up by 20. Of the new deaths reported, 15 were retroactively added to past weeks, while five belong to this week.

Since its last data update, Alberta Health has counted 427 new COVID-19 cases in 5,110 PCR tests. That is a decrease of eight cases and 70 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 8.54 per cent.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

On Feb. 20, 2021, 281 Albertans were hospitalized with COVID-19. In 2022, 1,414 patients were in hospital with the virus, while there were 575 people this year.

In 2021, there were 54 people with COVID-19 in intensive care on Feb. 20, compared to last year's 96 and this year's 16.

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 2,104 deaths.

There have been 133 COVID-19-related deaths so far this year, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 5,556.

The next data update is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 1.