As fears of the Omicron COVID-19 variant grow in Alberta, the province reached another milestone in the fight against the virus.
The province announced Wednesday that 85 per cent of the population 12 and over are now fully vaccinated, which is about 3.1 million people.
According to mapping on the provincial government’s website, Red Deer is split into three areas when tracking vaccine rates. In Red Deer North, 76 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, with 80.7 per cent fully protected in Red Deer East and 73.8 per cent in Red Deer Southwest.
The province also noted that 89.4 per cent of Albertans aged 12 and older have received at least one dose, while more than 95,000 pediatric vaccines have been administered to children aged five to 11 with thousands more appointments booked by caregivers for their children.
“This is a tremendous milestone in our effort to keep Albertans safe against COVID-19,” said Jason Copping, Minister of Health in a news release.
“With more and more Albertans getting vaccinated, we are seeing the pressure on our health-care system easing along with the numbers of Albertans falling severely ill.”
Meanwhile, the province announced 10 new cases of the Omicron variant, bringing the province’s total to 60.
Overall, Alberta added 456 new cases of the virus Wednesday, with 362 people in hospital infected with COVID-19, including 71 in the ICU.
Alberta now has 4,082 active cases, with 332,629 recovered cases and 3,286 deaths including three deaths reported on Wednesday.
According to geospatial mapping on the provincial government’s website, Red Deer sits at 89 active cases. There are 9,499 cases overall, with 9,326 recovered and 84 deaths due to implications of the virus.
In Central zone, there are 511 active cases of the virus and 410 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic. Sixty eight people are in hospital in the local zone including nine of those in ICU.
Stettler County has 100 active cases, Red Deer County has 34, Mountain View County has 36, Lacombe County has 27, Clearwater County has 22 and the City of Lacombe has 13, Olds has 15 and Sylvan Lake has five. The City of Camrose has 27, Camrose County has five, Drumheller has four and Kneehill County has five.
On the local geographic area setting, Wetaskiwin County, including Maskwacis, has 37 active cases, while Ponoka, including East Ponoka County, has two and Rimbey, including West Ponoka County and part of Lacombe County, has one.
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