The AB gov has released new data which shows that 2023 had the highest number of drug-poisoning deaths on record with 2,051. That's on average, six Albertans fatally overdosing per day and a 17% increase compared to 2022. #opioids #overdose #ab #alberta #edmonton #yyc 91% involved opioids however 88% involved non-pharmaceutical opioids defined by the government as fentanyl (and analogues), heroin and designer opiates. #opioids #overdose #ab #alberta #edmonton #yyc

Today the AB Gov released the following data saying there's a positive trend when it comes to overdose deaths.
-Since 2018 deaths from pharmaceutical opioids have been reduced by 70%
-Since 2021 deaths from methamphetamine have been reduced by 41%
#alberta #opioids #ab #abpoli -Since 2021 deaths from cocaine have been reduced by 61%
-Since 2021 deaths from alcohol have been reduced by 60%
-Since 2017 deaths from benzos have been reduced by 33%

Here is an EPSB and CBE student absences due to illness update.
This is #EPSB vs #CBE student absences due to any illness compared for this school year so far with values.
#calgary #edmonton #yeg #yyc #ab #alberta #schools This is the same graph but without values.
#calgary #edmonton #yeg #yyc #ab #alberta #schools

AB COVID-19 update for Oct 8-14.
+171 hospitalizations (+225 including retro adds)
+7 ICU admissions (+9 including retro adds)
+946 cases
17.8% positivity rate (+0.9%)
278 outbreaks total (+69 new)
+21 deaths
#covid #ab #alberta #yeg #yyc #edmonton #calgary +171 hospitalizations this week, (+225 including retroactive additions)
+7 ICU admissions this week, (+9 including retroactive additions)
#covid #ab #alberta #yeg #yyc #edmonton #calgary

AB #COVID-19 update for Sept 17-23:
Hospitalizations and ICU are now given as new admissions per week instead of total number of Albertans in hospital.
With +125 new #hospitalizations and +5 new #icu admissions we are closest to Jan 8, 2023 which had 135. #alberta #ab #yeg #yyc Here is a view of just 2023.

How to act around #servicedogs from the wife of a #veteran
🧵: My husband served 2 tours in Afghanistan as a tank driver with the #CAF. He joined when he was only 17 and served for over 7 years. He has very severe #PTSD, we’ve been told by VA case managers that he has one of 1/13 the most severe cases in Canada by their disability standards.

My husband got a PTSD service dog after being on a waiting list for 6 years.

Before he got a service dog I had no idea the sorts of things both he and I would experience and how it was like to have one.

2/13

Nov 16 COVID-19 AB update
For my comprehensive update, please see this article. It includes my full analysis and many graphs you can interact with.
edmonton.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-in-al…
#covid19ab #covid19 #ab #abpoli #yyc #yeg #edmonton For the coles notes version...
Tests this week: 9464 (+136 more than last week)
Cases this week: 1344 (-57 less than last week)
Positivity this week: 14.65% (-1.27% less than last week)
#covid19ab #covid19 #ab #abpoli #yyc #yeg #edmonton

Why are hospitals in Edmonton/Alberta so overwhelmed?

I am going to turn to the data for a second. COVID-19
You can see what hospitalizations were like for COVID-19 back in early 2020, and that waves would go up and down, usually returning to lower levels, or close-ish before going back up again, but that trend stopped in Jan 2022.

Here is your EPSB student absences update on the eve of the special board meeting being held tomorrow.
The numbers released today are from Thursday Nov. 10th as EPSB students are off school between Nov 11-15. I anticipate the next new data will be for Nov 16 and released Nov 17. Nov 10
Absences due to COVID-19: 0.10%
Absences due to other illness: 13.62%
Total absences due to all illness: 13.72%
#yeg #edmonton #covid19 #ab

Alberta's CMOH Deena Hinshaw has been replaced with Dr. Mark Joffe effective today.

Dr. Joffe will continue his current contract with AHS with no additional compensation for the CMOH role.
#ab #ableg #yyc #yeg #edmonton #calgary On the AHS website he's listed as "Vice President & Medical Director – Cancer Care Alberta, Clinical Support Services & Provincial Clinical Excellence"

He has worked with AHS for more than 25 years.

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…

Oct 19: AB COVID-19 update
Disclaimer: I base my graphs off of AB Health's raw data. Their weekly data includes changes made to past weeks. I update my graphs to reflect those changes and then do my update which is why my numbers may be different than others. #COVID19AB Tests
This week: 7825 (+412 more than last week)
#covid19ab #covid #yeg #alberta #ab #yyc

AB has 13 acute care outbreaks. 7 are in the Edmonton Zone.
• Alberta Hospital Edmonton
• Grey Nuns Community Hospital
• Leduc Community Hospital
• Misericordia Community Hospital
• Royal Alexandra Hospital
• Sturgeon Community Hospital
• University of Alberta Hospital Misericordia Community Hospital has 6 units on outbreak and 62 people have tested positive for COVID-19. #covid19ab #yeg

Acute outbreaks in the Edmonton Zone.
These healthcare facilities have COVID-19 outbreaks.
• Grey Nuns Community Hospital
• Leduc Community Hospital
• Misericordia Community Hospital
• Royal Alexandra Hospital
• Sturgeon Community Hospital
• University of Alberta Hospital Royal Alexandra Hospital has 7 units on outbreak.
102 people have tested positive
82 are patients, and 20 are health care workers. #COVID19AB #yeg #ab #edmonton

Oct 5, 2022: EPSB absences update.
I have been giving more weight to absences due to any illness incase COVID-19 cases are not being reported as such. September's average ended up being 4.11%. That means September had the second highest average absence numbers this year. This is the percent of students absent due to any illness each day compared monthly.

A thread on COVID-19 vs Influenza and how they are not the same. The proof is in the Alberta Health & Alberta Health Services data. MAJOR disclaimer here. This data is not per calendar year, it is for each specific flu season in Alberta and the date range changes from year to year. It also means that many deaths and cases were left out. Doing it this way is necessary to create the most accurate comparisons.

Drug overdose numbers for July have been released by the province.

95 Albertans died by drug poisonings in the month of July.

40 of those were Edmontonians (42%)

92/95 involved opioids (97%)

#yeg #ab #overdose #opioid #edmonton In the first 7 months of this year there have been 923 overdoses in Alberta, compared to 966 last year in the same time period which is a decrease of 4.5%.

#ab #overdose #opioid

This is an update on Edmonton Public Schools COVID/illness/absence numbers. I have been collecting this data daily since Jan 2022. Thank you to @EPSBNews for making it available for as long as you have. #edmonton #yeg #covidab This first graph tells the biggest story. In purple are absences related to COVID-19, in blue are absences due to other illness. As you can see, when students returned to school in January, there was a significant amount of COVID-19 going around. Absences due to other illnesses..

Sept 21: AB COVID-19 data round up
Disclaimer: I base my graphs off of Alberta Health's raw data. The data they release weekly includes changes made to past weeks. I update my graphs to reflect those changes which is why my numbers may be different than others. #COVID19AB #Yeg Tests: 6470 (-124 less than last week)
Avg Positivity: 19.52% (+2.56 from last week)
That is a big jump.
Last week's positivity was changed from 16.94% to 16.96%.

Tonight I brainstormed how to organize the Alberta COVID-19 data in a way that we could see seasonal commonalities, and compare the month that we are in now to prior years to get an accurate idea of where we are at in the grand scheme of things and I think I did it. #covid19ab This is daily hospitalizations for 3 years overlapped. You can see how each year is increasingly worse, & trends like a wave in May in all 3 years. You can also see an uncharacteristic increase this summer, and that the highest numbers were in the winter and spring of 2022.

Sept 7: AB COVID-19 data round up
Disclaimer: I base my graphs off of Alberta Health's raw data. The data they release weekly includes changes made to past weeks. I update my graphs to reflect those changes which is why my numbers may be different than others. #COVID19AB #Yeg Tests: 6719 (-841 less than last week)
Last weeks test numbers were retroactively changed from 7547 up to 7560. #COVID19AB #Yeg

Aug 31: AB COVID-19 data round up
Disclaimer: I base my graphs off of Alberta Health's raw data. The data they release weekly includes changes made to past weeks. I update my graphs to reflect those changes which is why my numbers may be different than others. #COVID19AB #Yeg Tests: 7547 (+314 more than last week)
Last weeks test numbers were retroactively changed from 7219 up to 7233. #COVID19AB #Yeg