Article content continued

“This is deadly serious. I have asked for kindness, but I also ask for firmness. The need to control our spread and protect our health system is why I ask everyone, anywhere in the province, to abide by all public health measures,” she said, adding people must stay home if they are experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms and get tested.

“What is a mild illness to many is deadly to some.”

New deaths announced Wednesday include six people in the Edmonton zone, three in the Calgary zone and one fatality in both the North zone and Central zone on Wednesday.

In Calgary, all deaths are linked to outbreak sites, including a female in her 90s from the AgeCare Skypointe seniors living facility, a female in her 80s from the Revera Mount Royal Long Term Care Home and a male in his 80s from the Amica Britannia boutique seniors residence.

Alberta conducted about 13,000 tests over the past 24 hours and the provincial positivity rate sits at about 5.6 per cent.

There are currently 320 schools with active COVID-19 cases, representing about 13 per cent of K-12 schools in Alberta. Of those, 64 are on the watch list, which means they have five or more cases related to in-school transmission.

In the Calgary zone, there are almost 60 outbreak sites.

Procurement of COVID-19 vaccine for Alberta

Health Minister Tyler Shandro said the province will receive a combined 686,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, which amounts to about 14 per cent of Alberta’s population.