An update on the E. coli outbreak that started in #YYC daycares, as of Sep. 11:
-231 lab-confirmed cases linked to outbreak
-26 patients in hospital: 25 kids & 1 adult. 11 patients have been discharged since outbreak started
-21 pts with HUS, a severe kidney complication AHS: "Based on the epidemiology of the cases we've seen to date, it is highly likely the source of this outbreak is food that was distributed from the central kitchen. At this point, AHS has not been able to identify a food item that was the source. We continue to investigate."

#COVID19AB this past fortnight (to May 17; technical delays prevented last week's release):
Hosp: 467 (-15)
ICU: 18 (-3)

New deaths: 13 (5733 total)

7d avg positivity (on restricted PCR tests): 8.26% (-0.55)

Hospitalizations have (mostly) plateaued for the past 2 months. We may be on the verge of having a new dominant subvariant: XBB.1.16 (aka Arcturus; in pink)
On the week of April 9, it was 5.7% of genetically-sequenced PCR tests.
Wk of April 16: 5.5%
Wk of April 23: 14.4%
(con'd)

Many more Albertans are waking up to the smell of wildfire smoke and air quality statements this morning. Even #YYC’s AQHI is expected to go to 6 (moderate risk) today: weather.gc.ca/airquality/pag…
A well-fitted N95 respirator can be effective to filter out the smoke (as well as 🦠). Portable HEPA filters can also be effective in filtering out 💨&🦠 within a space.
They can be put together with furnace filters and a box fan for relatively low cost; search online for Corsi-Rosenthal box plans.

Here's your pre-Easter weekend look at #COVID19AB wastewater data.
At the risk of sounding glib, something has risen and it isn't a holy figure... 🧵 Fort Mac #YMM has seen a general upward trend for the past 3 weeks (last data point today)

#COVID19AB this week:
Hosp: 1053 (+63 from last week)
ICU: 48 (+4)
Deaths: [an avg of 5/d in the wk of Apr 5-11]

CMOH Hinshaw announces pause of use of monoclonal antibody treatment Sotrovimab, as there are questions of its efficacy vs dominant variant BA.2. Paxlovid still recommended, for those who are eligible.
2nd boosters now available to eligible ppl (elderly, immunocompromised).

Just putting this timeline out there... 🧵
On March 30, police were ordered by police commission to removed tbl.
On April 1, the police association distributes tbls in defiance of the commission's order.
Also on April 1, a councillor made comments police took umbrage with. On April 2, the same councillor has an officer attend a road rage incident & take statements.
On April 5, the police chief quotes the councillor while announcing he would delay implementation of commission's directive for 2 weeks, a "cool down" period.