Alberta has reported over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases a day for two weeks

Alberta reported 1,699 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, making it the 14th day in a row that over 1,000 new infections have been discovered.

In the past two weeks, this is the highest one-day case count. The second highest number of cases was found on April 15, with 1,646 new infections.

Of the new cases, 1,332 were variants of concern, which is 516 more than Tuesday’s count. Variant cases currently represent about 59% of the province’s 18,873 total active infections.

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Due to technical issues, the province was unable to report the number of people in hospital and any new deaths on Wednesday.

The province has administered 1,232,925 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of April 20, including 35,785 on Tuesday alone. There are now 244,527 Albertans considered fully immunized.

Grade 7 to 12 students in Calgary’s public and Catholic school districts moved to online learning this past Monday, April 19, and schools in Edmonton are now following suit.

Beginning Thursday, April 22, students in Grades 7 to 12 in Edmonton Public Schools and Edmonton Catholic Schools will shift to at-home learning for a minimum of two weeks.

“I understand this is difficult news to many students, parents and teachers, as in-classroom learning has significant benefits. However, due to operational concerns, this temporary shift is necessary to ensure learning can continue,” said Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange in a news release.

According to the release, decisions to approve a school board’s request to shift to at-home learning for operational considerations is based on the following criteria:

• A chronic substitute teacher shortage.
• A significant number of students and staff in quarantine or isolation.
• Recent requests from the board for short-term shifts for a number of their schools.
• Substantial COVID-19 cases in the community.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, will provide her next live update about COVID-19 on Thursday, April 22.