Two people in their 20s with no known pre-existing conditions were added to Alberta’s COVID-19 fatality list on Saturday.
Alberta recorded a total of 13 additional deaths Saturday, including a woman and a man in their 20s, both in Calgary zone. Neither had known co-morbidities, Alberta Health said.
Officials said the man died on Jan. 16, while the woman’s death was recorded Jan. 18.
The province also added 573 new cases of the disease. The active case numbers in the province now sit at 9,727, with 820 new recoveries outweighing the new cases and deaths.
The positive cases come from 10,894 new tests, giving a provincial positivity rate of just over five per cent.
Hospitalizations are also down, with 676 people currently in hospital, 114 of whom are in intensive care.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said on social media Saturday that even as numbers drop, the province needs to continue to follow health orders to keep them trending downwards.
According to the provincial numbers, 1,022 Albertans received vaccine doses on Jan. 22.
Alberta has been affected by shortages of COVID-19 vaccine supply that have led to a pausing of first doses and delays for some second doses in the province, although Hinshaw said this week that she believes there is enough vaccine to distribute second doses.
“At the moment, we don’t anticipate needing to push our second dose appointments past the 42 days,” she said Tuesday.
Of the 13 deaths reported Saturday, only five were connected to outbreaks at long-term care homes.
The rest were people who were not in care.
In the Edmonton zone, three men in their 80s with pre-existing conditions who were connected to the outbreak at Youville Home, the outbreak at Terra Losa Lifestyle Options, and the outbreak at Rivercrest Care Centre died.
A woman in her 60s in Edmonton zone with comorbidities died.
In the Calgary zone, along with the two fatalities of people in their 20s, a man in his 70s with pre-existing conditions who was linked to the outbreak at Academy of Aging also died.
The North zone saw four fatalities recorded, A man in his 60s with pre-existing conditions died in the William J.Cadzoe – Lac La Biche Healthcare Centre outbreak.
Also in North zone, a man and woman in their 70s and a woman in her 80s, all with comorbidities but none connected to outbreaks, died.
Two men in their 50s died in Central zone. Neither had any known pre-existing conditions.