BANFF – Banff’s second COVID-19 spike appears to have flatlined.
As of Tuesday (Feb. 16), Alberta Health reported that 444 of the 445 of Banff’s and Lake Louise’s total cases since the pandemic began about year ago have now recovered.
In neighbouring Canmore, where there have been 217 cases recorded since the pandemic began, including two deaths, there is also one active case at the moment.
Officials say Banff’s first spike peaked at 191 cases at the end of November, whereas the most recent spike in January and February topped out at 43 earlier this month.
Silvio Adamo, the director of emergency management for the Town of Banff, said it is good news that Banff’s cases have dropped, but calls on residents and visitors to stay vigilant and follow all public health protocols and requirements.
“These are positive signs that we’ve sort of flatlined here and we’ve had no new cases over the last several days,” he said.
“But by no means is this over, and we’re likely going to experience ebb and flow with this virus in our community because of the circumstances we have here.”
Province-wide, there were 4,993 reported active cases of the virus as of Feb. 16. There are 365 people in hospital due to COVID-19, including 56 in intensive care.
In the previous 24 hours, there were nine additional COVID-related deaths reported, bringing the provincial death toll to 1,791.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said that 263 new cases of COVID were identified Tuesday from about 5,200 tests completed over the previous 24 hours, for a positivity rate of about five per cent.
“This is an increase from where we have been in the past few weeks, which is concerning,” she said during her afternoon briefing on Feb. 16.
“It is possible this increase is because of changes in who went for testing over the long weekend, so we will be watching closely in the days to come to see if this is an isolated finding or a concerning trend.”
So far, there have been 221 variant cases reported in Alberta – seven of the South African variant and 214 of the United Kingdom strain.
Of those, Alberta Health Services identified 15 new variant cases on Friday, 18 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday and seven on Monday.
Hinshaw said this amounts to an average of 12 new variant cases per day.
“I am particularly concerned about the growing number of cases not linked to travel,” she said, adding many of these cases are the results of close contacts who were identified through robust contact tracing.
Hinshaw said the province is monitoring emerging research on the South African and U.K. variants.
“We’re looking to see if any of our current guidelines or approaches need to change, beyond the adjustments we have already made to limit opportunities for spread,” she said.
While hospitalizations and deaths continue to trend downwards, health officials note that Alberta still has a very high case rate.
Hinshaw said there were 2,890 cases four months ago on Oct. 17, 2020, compared to almost 5,000 on Feb. 16.
There were 122 people in hospital on Oct. 17, but she said there were three times that as of Tuesday.
“Our numbers are still higher than they were before the second wave in November and December,” Hinshaw said.
Adamo said residents and visitors can’t be complacent, and called for extra care during the busy Family Day week.
He said he is also particularly concerned about the variant strains of the virus. No cases of the variant, however, have been reported in Banff yet.
“We definitely have to be on our toes here for the next couple of months until we all get our shot in the arm,” Adamo said in reference to the vaccination.
“My message to the community is maintain your vigilance as we are still not out of this,” he added.
“We still need to be careful if we want to maintain a low level of cases in Banff and keep our community open.”
