The Town of Cochrane and Rocky View County are both experiencing the same decline in the number of active cases of COVID-19 as the rest of Alberta.

In today's update provided by Premier Jason Kenney, Alberta had 879 new cases reported in the past 24 hours with 1,106  tests performed for a positivity rate of 7.7 per cent. In that same period, 1,548 Albertans recovered.

There are currently 890 people in Alberta hospitals with 153 people admitted to ICU.

In the Town of Cochrane, we have 46 known active cases, down from the 53 reported yesterday.

Rocky View County dropped by 16 cases to 85.

Kenney announced the Moderna vaccine doses have arrived in Alberta and starting tomorrow (Dec. 30) will be offered to residents in continuing care facilities and designated supportive living facilities beginning with those at highest risk.

The vaccine will be delivered to vaccine sites in Calgary, St. Paul, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, and Edmonton and will be offered to residents in continuing care facilities in those communities. Also, the Moderna doses will be offered to residents at six First Nation congregate living facilities on-reserve.

The Provincial Vaccine Depot will also receive the vaccine for further distribution to rural and remote communities.

As more shipments of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines arrive in early January, immunization will focus on residents of long-term care and designated supportive living facilities, followed by seniors aged 75 and over and residents aged 65 and over of First Nations reserve communities and Metis settlements.

Immunization of respiratory therapists, intensive care physicians, and staff, and long-term care, and designated supportive living facility workers across Alberta will continue.

Phase 2 is still expected to start by April 2021. Final decisions regarding the sequencing of populations to receive the vaccine in Phase 2 have not yet been determined.

Phase 3 will involve rolling out vaccinations to the general Alberta population and is anticipated to start later in 2021.