Lac La Biche County is beginning to see its wave of COVID-19 cases recede after consecutive days of decreasing case numbers.
Lac La Biche County, which topped the Alberta list of active case rates last week, has been surpassed by other rural municipalities and is now out of the top three on list of active cases per capita in the province.
Going into the weekend, the County was reporting 123 active cases, dropping significantly since its peek of 207 active cases last week.
While larger centres have seen larger case numbers due to population density, COVID-19 isn’t just in Alberta’s biggest cities. Rural communities across Alberta are seeing their own surge in cases of the virus. Athabasca County is now reporting the highest per capita rate of active cases, followed by Beaver County and Big Lakes County. A little over a week ago, Lac La Biche County had the highest case rates of the virus, followed by the Fort McMurray region. While the numbers have dropped, the rural areas are still seeing proportionately higher instances of virus spread, say provincial health officials.
Through last week,12 of the top 15 active case rates in the province were in rural communities.
"The bottom line is that right now you are at a higher risk of being exposed to COVID-19 in many rural parts of our province than if you were living in a big city,” said Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, addressing rural Albertans at a press conference last week.
In rural areas, hospitalization rates are 26 per cent higher than in urban areas, and the rate of ICU admissions for rural residents have been 30 per cent higher than that of their urban counterparts since February.
“None of this is to stigmatize rural Albertans or to suggest that any one part of our province is to blame," said Hinshaw. "This is not an urban versus rural issue. It is clear that COVID-19 is spreading and having an impact everywhere in our province."
Regional vaccine mapping
As area residents wade through the receding numbers from the County’s third wave, there will be an additional tool that the public can use to track regional statistics of the province's vaccine rollout.
The data tracking program made accessible online will allow Albertans to see regularly updated numbers on the percentage of eligible Albertans who have received a COVID-19 vaccine. It will also include the percentage of people in each region who have received one dose, those who are fully immunized and the age demographic each immunized individual falls into.
As of Tuesday night, the province reported that 3,807 people in the Lac La Biche region — roughly 37 per cent of eligible regional residents — have received at least one dose with the majority of vaccine recipients between the age of 40 to 59.
The province’s public health metrics such as regional active case, school outbreaks, hospitalizations and ICU rates related to COVID-19 and now regional vaccine rollout are publicly available.
Older uptake
Going into the long weekend, Alberta Health Services was reporting that more than 2.3 million vaccine doses had been administered, with 335,500 residents being fully immunized. In the Lakeland area, AHS statistics show that one-third of residents in the St. Paul area have received at least one vaccine dose. The same percentage is being reported in the Bonnyville area population. The Lac La Biche region is showing a slightly higher overall number, with 38 per cent reporting at least one dose. In all three areas, the percentage of doses given to residents aged 75 and over is at more than 75 per cent.
With files from Jennifer Henderson, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
