Another Albertan child has had their death attributed to COVID-19.
In the weekly data release from Alberta Health on Wednesday, the death of a child in the one- to four-year-old age cohort was added to the tally.
Alberta Health confirmed it was a reclassification of a death in April 2022, but did not release any other information. In late-April to mid-May 2022, the province was in the midst of another wave of COVID deaths.
Since the start of the pandemic, two children in that age range have had their deaths attributed to COVID-19.
The age one to four cohort is the least-vaccinated in the province, with only 10.1 per cent of them having one dose of COVID vaccine and 6.2 per cent with two doses.
A full course of vaccination – two doses – has been shown effective in preventing severe disease and death.
Of the 5,783 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, seven have been of Albertans under 19, 77 have been of Albertans aged 20 to 39, 439 of adults aged 40 to 59, and the remaining thousands of seniors over 60.
And while deaths in Alberta have disproportionately affected older people, the rate of hospitalizations and ICU admissions from COVID for children under 5 is higher than other children-aged cohorts.
The province’s dashboard also showed the XBB.1.16 subvariant, nicknamed “Arcturus,” surpassed the XBB.1.9 or “Kraken” subvariant to become dominant in the week of May 14.
In May, the World Health Organization said COVID-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but noted it was still a pandemic.
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