Alberta reports a record of 1,155 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday

Hinshaw attributed another 11 deaths to the disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 462.

“The severe results aren’t limited to just those who are already at the end of their lives, and it’s a mistake to think so,” Hinshaw said, noting that two people in their thirties were among the deaths announced over the past week.

“Having a chronic medical condition is very common,” he said. “These conditions include things like hypertension and diabetes. In Alberta, nearly a quarter of all adults over the age of 20 have a chronic condition. Nearly 800,000 people.

“When you look only at men in Alberta, more than half of men over 50 and nearly 70 percent of men over 65 have high blood pressure. This shouldn’t be a death sentence.”

Currently, 310 people are being treated in hospital, including 58 in intensive care units.

Hinshaw said there are 173 adult intensive care beds in the province. While 70 have been designated for COVID-19 patients, more beds can be moved if the need arises, he said.

“Alberta Health Services manages beds and ICU staff according to the demand of both COVID-19 patients and patients with other conditions that require intensive care,” he said.

“These beds can be used for many types of patients. I want to assure Albertans that as more COVID-19 patients require intensive care, AHS is able to add additional intensive care capacity.”

AHS has prepared more ICU beds in the Edmonton and Calgary areas to be ready if needed, Hinshaw said.

“This is where most of the capacity will likely be required, but creating this capacity means interrupting or delaying other services, and this is the impact we want to avoid.”

Here is how the active cases in the zones are broken down:

• Edmonton area: 4,520 cases
• Calgary area: 4,272 cases
• Northern area: 651 cases
• South zone: 569 cases
• Central area: 564 cash desks
• Unknown: 79 cases

The 11 deaths reported on Friday include:

• A 90-year-old woman from Edmonton, linked to the outbreak at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Center.
• An 80-year-old woman also linked to the outbreak at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Center.
• A man in his eighties linked to the outbreak of the epidemic at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Center.
• A woman in her 60s from Edmonton linked to an outbreak at Gray Nuns Community Hospital.
• A woman in her 90s from the Edmonton area, linked to the outbreak of the Covenant Care Chateau Vitaline.
• A man in his 90s, also linked to an outbreak at Gray Nuns Community Hospital.
• A man in his seventies from the north, linked to the outbreak of the Grande Prairie Care Center.
• A man in his sixties from the Edmonton area.
• A man in his sixties from the south.
• A woman in her seventies from the Calgary area.
• An 80-year-old man from the central area.