Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided the COVID 19 update for Wednesday, December 16. 

  • The province saw 1,270 new cases after 17,500 tests were performed dropping the positivity rate to 7.3%.
  • There are 759 people in the hospital with 139 of those in ICU.
  • There were 16 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours bringing the provincial total to 760.
  • Cochrane has dropped one case for a total of 55 active cases.
  • Rocky View County added nine for a total of 125 active cases. 

The rising number of deaths continues to be concerning and Alberta's top doctor pointed out, "Each death is a reminder that we must reduce the spread as quickly as possible. It is a sobering statistic that, in less than 10 months, more Albertans have now died from COVID-19 than have died from influenza in the last 10 years combined."

Dr. Hinshaw spoke to the concerns with regards to the new COVID 19 vaccine saying, "It's important to remember that Canada has one of the most robust regulatory systems for new vaccines in the world.  Health Canada moved quickly through the approvals processes but no steps were skipped.  The same rigorous testing and scrutiny was applied to this vaccine as to any new treatment." 

Hinshaw believes the vaccine is safe and that it will save lives. She pleaded with Albertans to get immunized when their turn comes up.