Alberta reports 2 more COVID-19 deaths, dip in hospitalizations Thursday

Alberta public health officials reported two more COVID-19 deaths Thursday, while hospitalizations declined.

Both Albertans were in their 60s and died Monday,according to Alberta Health.A total of 3,885 people have now died from COVID-19 in Alberta since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, there are1,357 Albertans in hospital for COVID-19 16 fewer than Wednesday including 92 intensive care unit patients, twomore since Wednesday's update.

Over the last week, 28per cent of new non-ICU hospital admissions have been "incidental cases," said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, on Twitter Thursday.

COVID-19 is the mainor a contributing cause of hospital admission in 69.4 per cent cases, she added.

Eighty-six per cent of new ICU admissions are due to COVID-19; 14 per cent were incidental cases, she said.

Public health officials have identified 682 new COVID-19 casesthrough 3,436 PCR tests, resulting in a test-positivity rate of 21.6 per cent.

The province's seven-day test-positivity rate is 22.89 per cent.

There are 10,626 known active cases in Alberta. But the amount of virus in the community is expected to be higher, due to provincial PCR testing capacity limits.

As of Thursday's update, 75.8 per cent of Albertans including those currently ineligible have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine; 80.8 per cent of the population has gotten one dose.

About 35.2 per cent of Albertans have received a booster shot, but third doses are not accessible to everyone in all eligible age groups yet.