Highest active COVID-19 case rates in Edmonton area found outside of the city itself

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Edmonton — Active cases of COVID-19 in the Edmonton health zone are found in communities outside of the city at twice the rate compared to the city proper, according to Alberta Health data.

Monday’s data shows that the city of Edmonton has 684 out of 1,180 active cases in the Edmonton health zone.

That equates to about 42 per cent of active cases being inside the city of Edmonton, despite it having close to 73 per cent of the zone's population.

Adjusted for that population disparity, communities outside of the city but inside the Edmonton health zone have about 128 active cases per 100,000 residents.

Inside the city itself, the rate is nearly half of that, at 65.9 active cases per 100,000 residents.

According to 2019 figures, the Edmonton Zone’s population is 1,424,837 of which the city of Edmonton comprises 1,038,054.

The city of Edmonton is part of the Edmonton health zone, which is not synonymous with “metro area” and extends well beyond the city’s corporate boundaries.

It includes neighbouring communities like St. Albert, Leduc and Fort Saskatchewan, but also stretches as far west as beyond Entwistle and Nojack, but only as far east as Elk Island National Park.

Edmonton-area communities like Barrhead and Westlock to the north and Wetaskiwin and Camrose to the south fall outside of the Edmonton health zone boundaries.

Similarly, the Calgary health zone bears little resemblance to the city’s boundaries.

Of the 15 highest active case rates in the province, only two, Beaumont and Leduc, are in the Edmonton Zone.

As of Monday, the Edmonton Zone is the only health zone without a community among the 20 lowest vaccination rates in the province.

The highest percentages of vaccinated residents are generally in the city of Edmonton itself. Of the 10 lowest vaccination rates in the Edmonton Zone, only two are in the city itself and four of the bottom five are outside the city proper.

Thorsby, at 65.6 per cent, has the lowest first-dose vaccination rate in the Edmonton Zone, with Edmonton-Bonnie Doon and Sherwood Park tying for the highest vaccination rate at 80.8 per cent.