The update, scheduled for 3:30 pm, comes a week after the province announced that hospitals were still “under significant stress” and hospitalizations were continuing to creep upwards
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Health Minister Jason Copping and Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw will provide an update on COVID-19 in the province Wednesday afternoon.
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The update, scheduled for 3:30 pm, comes a week after the province announced that hospitals were still “under significant stress” and hospitalizations were continuing to creep upwards.
From April 26 to May 2, 69 people in the province had died — the youngest was 28 and the oldest was 102. There were 1,267 patients hospitalized across Alberta, jumping up by 47 from the previous week. Intensive-care numbers held relatively steady, with one less patient compared to the previous week.
The province also announced that Alberta doctors, nurse practitioners and pharmacists would now be able to prescribe the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, in a bid to make the drug more readily accessible.
Paxlovid helps stop COVID infections from progressing to more severe symptoms in people who are at higher risk, potentially averting a hospital stay. But the drug needs to be taken within five days of first experiencing symptoms, so anyone who might benefit from it needs to be able to get it quickly.
Some people who are eligible to take Paxlovid have complained that they’ve had trouble getting their hands on it, and some doctors have been critical that too much of the supply is sitting on shelves.
Positive rapid-antigen tests will now also be accepted in the process of obtaining Paxlovid.
More to eat.
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