Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Monday, March 15

The latest on vaccinations:

• Phase 2A of Alberta's COVID-19 immunization program with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines began Monday. Albertans aged 65 to 74 can only book at participating pharmacies.
• Albertans born in 1947 or earlier are eligible to book through Alberta Health Services (AHS) online tool or Health Link at 811. AHS will open up more appointments to following birth years (1948 to 1956) as the week progresses.
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis people born in 1971 are also able to book their appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, but they must call Health Link at 811.
• Eligible Albertans can also try to book through 102 community pharmacies in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. A list of participating pharmacies is available on the Alberta Blue Cross website.
• Vaccinations for those 75 and older (born in 1946 or earlier) are still available at those pharmacies as well as at the 116 immunization sites operated by AHS across the province. 
• AHS announced Monday it will open a large-scale vaccination centre at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre on April 5. The site will have 100 vaccination stations and, at full capacity, it could deliver 5,000 shots per day, officials say. There will be no drop-in appointments. Free parking will be provided.
• As of Sunday, the province said 368,124 doses of vaccine had been administered, and 91,593 Albertans have been fully immunized with two doses.
• If shipments arrive as scheduled, the province says all adults in the province will receive their first dose by the end of June.

• The province has also announced the vaccine rollout for Phase 2B and what underlying health conditions qualify. It's expected that the timeline will be between April and June, but depends on supply. See below for eligibility:
  • Asplenia or dysfunction of the spleen (a missing spleen or a spleen that is no longer working).
  • Cancer.
  • Chronic heart disease and vascular disease.
  • Chronic kidney diseases requiring regular medical monitoring or treatment.
  • Chronic Liver disease due to any cause.
  • Chronic neurological disease (e.g. epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, MS, muscular dystrophy and dementia).
  • Chronic respiratory (lung) diseases:
    • Including: COPD, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, or severe asthma that required an asthma-related emergency department visit or hospital admission in the past year.
    • Not including: mild or well-controlled asthma.
  • Diabetes requiring insulin or other anti-diabetic medication to control.
  • A weakened immune response due to disease or treatment, including:
    • anyone undergoing chemotherapy or treatment for HIV, genetic disorders of the immune system.
    • people receiving long-term medical treatment to control severe inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus.
  • Pregnancy.
  • Severe mental illness or substance use disorder requiring a hospital stay during the past year.
  • Severe obesity.
  • Severe or profound learning disabilities or severe developmental delay.
  • Solid organ, bone marrow or stem cell transplant recipients.

• A note from a doctor or pharmacist is not required to get the vaccine.
• Hinshaw also announced Phase 2C of the rollout, which will include health care professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and health support staff. As well, designated support persons for those living in continuing care will also become eligible.

The latest COVID-19 numbers:

• The province reported 364 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and three new deaths.
• There were 4,811 active cases across the province, an increase of 114 from the day before.
• The province reported 255 people were being treated in hospital for COVID-19, with 42 people in intensive care beds.
• 6,600 coronavirus tests were completed with a positivity rate of about 5.5 per cent.
• An additional 65 variant cases were recorded, bringing the total to 985. Of those variant cases, almost all — 967 — are the strain first identified in the U.K., and 16 are the strain first identified in South Africa.
• On Sunday, Alberta also reported the first two cases of the variant strain first identified in Brazil, known as P.1.
• Alberta's R-value is 1.07. An R-value above 1.0 means the rate of transmission was increased during that period.

The latest on AstraZeneca/Covishield:

• Hinshaw says more than 92 per cent of the province's current supply of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine doses had been booked as of Sunday afternoon.
• Given the dwindling supply, the province shut down online bookings, with limited appointments available only through Health Link 811.
• There were two new groups eligible to book as of Monday:
  • All Albertans born between 1957 and 1961.
  • All First Nations, Métis and Inuit born in 1972 and 1976.

The latest on expanded rapid testing:

• The Alberta government is shipping 924,000 rapid tests to sites across the province to speed up screening for COVID-19, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Thursday. 
• Rapid tests are intended to support screening programs to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, Shandro said, and will help prevent outbreaks at a range of businesses and sectors:
  • 325,000 tests to Suncor, Syncrude and CNRL.
  • 267,000 to long-term care, designated-supportive living and hospice facilities.
  • 100,000 for a new pilot program offering rapid tests in two Calgary schools. It's expected that one Calgary Board of Education school and one Calgary Catholic School District school will participate in the pilot.
  • 100,000 to rural and remote hospitals, assessment centres and other health-care sites.
  • 76,000 to WestJet.
  • 56,000 to various other industries and groups across the province.

• The tests will be used at Cargill's High River meatpacking plant — which had the largest outbreak in Canada tied to a single site — over the next several months and the government said discussions are underway to provide tests to other meat-processing plants.
• Mobile testing will also be used to help with the outbreak at the Olymel pork-processing plant in Red Deer.

The latest on reopening and restrictions:

• A southeast Calgary church that has previously been fined for defying COVID-19 safety regulations has been handed two more public health order violation tickets. Two tickets for court summons were issued to Fairview Baptist Church by community peace officers on March 8 related to physical distancing and gathering over capacity, the city said Thursday.
• The Alberta government announced Monday that the province could step fully into Step 2 of reopening, as hospitalizations have remained below 450.
• Retail stores and malls are now allowed to increase their capacity to 25 per cent of fire code occupancy, and youth sports teams and activities are allowed to resume with up to 10 participants. Masks and physical distancing are still required.
• Restrictions were eased for child, youth and adult performances, including singing, theatre and playing wind instruments, though participants must follow the same restrictions as for youth sports.
• Banquet halls, community hall and hotels can now host permitted performance activities, wedding ceremonies with up to 10 people, and funeral services with up to 20.
• The province says any decisions on moving to Step 3 of the reopening will be made on March 22 at the earliest.

See which regions are being hit hardest:

Here is the detailed regional breakdown of active cases as reported Monday by the province:

• Calgary zone: 1,779, up from 1,738 (50,653 recovered).
• Edmonton zone: 1,160, up from 1,154 (52,839 recovered).
• North zone: 818, up from 797 (11,878 recovered).
• South zone: 588, up from 545 (6,446 recovered).
• Central zone: 460, up from 452 (10,107 recovered).
• Unknown: 6, down from 11 (105 recovered).

Find out which neighbourhoods or communities have the most cases, how hard people of different ages have been hit, the ages of people in hospital, how Alberta compares to other provinces and more in: Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta — and what they mean

You can see active cases by local health area on the following interactive map. Scroll, zoom and click on the map for more information.

Here are the latest Alberta COVID-19 stories:

Benefits outweigh risks with AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, experts say

4 years ago

Duration 2:01

Despite some European countries temporarily halting use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after 30 cases of blood clots, experts maintain it is still safe to use in Canada.

• For the latest on what's happening in the rest of Canada and around the world, see here.