ALBERTA – The province is experiencing a service disruption that has impacted the monitoring of COVID-19 cases in Alberta.
Late Tuesday (April 14) evening, the ministry experienced a data centre outage, said Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw at a press conference Wednesday (April 15) afternoon.
“We recognize that many Albertans are interested in the daily COVID-19 data,” she said. “Tomorrow we will have updated information on cases as well as the latest numbers for recovered cases, hospitalizations and continuing care reporting.”
This data disruption has shut down the data feed from the provincial lab. Teams have been hard at work to restore services, Hinshaw said, but have not been able to restart the data feed.
However, teams were able to determine the number of tests conducted and the number of new confirmed cases in the province.
When the issue is resolved, complete datasets will be shared, which is expected in time for Thursday’s (April 16) COVID-19 update.
A total of 126 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the province, bringing the provincial total to 1,996. Hinshaw cautioned this information is preliminary at this time.
There are 18 cases reported in the Bow Valley, 10, of which have recovered and eight cases active in the MD of Bighorn region, which includes Exshaw and Canmore and in the ID no. 9 region which includes Banff and Lake Louise.
No new deaths were reported.
The province has seen an increase in testing numbers after expanding eligibility to all Albertan’s presenting COVID-19 symptoms that include cough, fever, runny nose, sore throat and shortness of breath.
A total of 2,853 tests have been completed in the last 24-hours and 82,534 tests have been completed in Alberta to date.
The important number to better understand the spread of the virus is the number of hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients, Hinshaw said. These numbers have remained fairly stable since the virus first arrived in Alberta based on preliminary data.
Hinshaw is working with her epidemiology team to create a more detailed tracing of these trends. They hope to make the data that emerges available to the public by the end of the week.
“Stable is good. It’s better than rising, but what we would like to see are those trends decreasing,” Hinshaw said. “So far, we’re not quite seeing that yet.”
The provincial announcement of a $53 million investment to support mental health and addiction recovery services, supports and resources for all Albertans will be an important step in keeping people in the province safe, Hinshaw said.
“We are all grappling with the impact of this pandemic in one way or another. No matter what you may be experiencing, whether it’s grief, anger or anxiety, these are normal feelings,” Hinshaw said. “It is important to take whatever steps necessary to acknowledge and process these feelings and protect your mental health – These additional supports will help Albertans during these unprecedented times."
Premier Jason Kenney said all Albertans have been affected by the virus, with many suffer emotionally and psychologically. The experience has been heightened, he added, by the loss of work and financial instability many Albertans now face.
“Many people are feeling nervous, scared or lonely,” Kenney said.
A recent public opinion survey completed by the government indicates that 74 per cent of Albertans feel that their mental health has been impacted by the pandemic and 34 per cent report that they are “feeling depressed or hopeless at least some days every week.”
The $53 million in funding will help launch a comprehensive mental health and addiction COVID-19 response plan. Kenney described it as the largest mental health pandemic investment in the country.
The funding will help expand existing health lines, online resources and supports and help to connect people directly to counselling to help those in isolation. He added that support will be available 24-7 from Alberta Health Services' mental health clinicians. Funds will also be allocated to Alberta Health Services Family Violence Services.
“We don’t yet know when the pandemic will end or when we will be able to start easing up on economic and social restrictions needed to contain the virus,” Kenney said. “In the meantime, and over the long-term, let me tell you this for certain – Alberta is there for you.”
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