Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Thursday, Dec. 3

The latest:

• CBC News broke the news Wednesday that, asCOVID-19 cases soar in Alberta and hospital capacity is stretched, the province has reached out to the federal government and the Canadian Red Cross for help, asking for field hospitals.
• An internal Alberta government document, obtained by CBC News, shows the province has been planning for more than a week to set up indoor field hospitals to treat 750 COVID-19 patients.
• Thedocument details aplan for two or more field hospitals, with 375 beds each, in Calgary and Edmonton for patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
• The news comes as Alberta continues to leadthe country in total active COVID cases, with17,743active cases on Thursday afternoon,compared with 14,526in Ontario, a province with more than three times as many people, and 12,740 in Quebec, which has twice the population. It also leads the country in terms of new infections per capita over the past week.

• Alberta announced 1,854new cases on Thursday afternoon.
• There are 97 people in ICU, out of 511in hospital, both record high numbers. The province has 173 intensive care beds butis working to add another 250.
• Fourteen more people have died for a total of 575 with the Alberta government saying this week that 64 per cent of the deaths were among residents of long-term care facilities or supportive/home living sites.
• There are more than6,331 active cases in Calgary and more than 7,857 active cases in Edmonton.
• On Thursday, Premier JasonKenney hinted that any possible new restrictions would be linked to the "hot zones" of the province Edmonton and Calgary..
• Kenneyhas stated that Alberta'sR-value or the average number of people infected by each infected personwould have to be below 1.0 in order to lift restrictions.
• The provincial positivity rate was 9.5per cent on Thursday, the highest level since the pandemic began.
• Distress Centre Calgary says suicide-related calls, texts and chats were up 66 per centin October compared with the same month in 2019.
• The number of continuing care facilities in Alberta with COVID-19 outbreaks of two or more cases has more than tripled in three weeks. Thetotal number of active COVID-19 casesin Alberta care homes has shot to 123 from 40.
• Several Alberta school divisions say principals and support staff are spending hours making contact tracing phone calls to students and employees, instructing them to isolate, after families report a positive test result for COVID-19.
• As Alberta rolls out COVID-19 vaccines in three phases next year, most members of the public will likely have to wait until summer for their shots,Kenneywarned at the provincial briefing Wednesday.
• Hinshaw says cabinet will make decisions later this month on what restrictions will be in place for the winter holidays.
• The organizers of an anti-lockdownrally in Calgary on the weekend have been chargedfor breaching public health orders, the Calgary Police Service said on Wednesday.
• Mecidine Hat city council held an emergency meeting Wednesday and passed a mandatory mask bylaw. The temporary byalw goes into effect Friday.

Click on the map below to zoom in or out on specific local geographic areas in Alberta and find out more about COVID-19 there:

What you need to know today in Alberta

Albertahas reported more than 1,000 cases each day for nearly two weeks.The province continues to set new dailyCOVID-19 infection records, often leading the country in total active cases.

Alberta has asked thefederal government and Red Cross for field hospitals as local hospitals become overwhelmed and the province struggles with COVIDcases surging, CBC News learned from a federal sourceand reported on Wednesday.

An internal Alberta government documentshows the province has been planning for more than a week to set up indoor field hospitals to treat 750 COVID-19 patients, CBC News reported Thursday.

Intensive care doctor decries prospect of field hospitals in Alberta

4 years ago

Duration 6:03

'This is damage control,' said Dr. Darren Markland, an intensive care physician in Edmonton, speaking about an internal government draft plan to treat 750 COVID-19 patients in field hospitals.

The Alberta Health Services (AHS) documentdetails a draft implementation plan for two or more facilities, with 375 beds each, in Calgary and Edmonton for patients with mild to moderate symptoms. Patients requiring intensive care would remain in city hospitals.

The Alberta Health Services (AHS) document shows officials narrowed the possible field hospital sites down to three potential locations:

• The University of Calgary Olympic Oval (Calgary) potential capacity of 375 patients.
• The University of Alberta Butterdome (Edmonton) potential capacity of 288 patients.
• The Saville Community Sports Centre (Edmonton) potential capacity of 375 patients.

The field hospitals draft plan underscores the severity of the public-health crisis Alberta faces and provides a sobering sign of where officials believe the trajectory of virus infections could be headed.

The Nov. 28 draft plan states the provincial government is exploring asking for military support to help staff the field hospitals.

"Ithink it's a sign of responsible planning on our part for [a]potential extreme scenario," Premier Jason Kenney said at a news conference Wednesday.

As Alberta rolls out COVID-19 vaccines in three phases next year, most members of the public will likely have to wait until summer for their shots,Kenneysaid Wednesday.

Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout will happen in the first three months of 2021, he said, when it's anticipatedthat vaccines will been given to about 435,000 people, a littlemore than 10 per cent of the population.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses to be fully effective, with three to six weeks between doses, which means vaccinating 435,000 people would require870,000 doses.

Phase 1will focus entirely on the province most at-risk populations, he said, which includes residents of long-term care homes and designated supported-living facilities, staff who work in those facilities, on-reserve First Nations people, and other health-care workers.

Phase 2 of the rolloutwill run from April to June, with thegoal by the end of the period to have 30 per cent of the population immunized, Kenney said.

"By the summer, we plan to begin Phase 3, where vaccine will be offered to all Albertans. And that means it will be months before vaccine is available to the general population. This is the unfortunate reality that Canadians across the country face, and people around the world."

Meanwhile, Alberta schools are no longer waiting for public health confirmations to try and stop COVID-19 from spreading. Several school divisions say principals and support staff are spending hours making phone calls to students and employees, instructing them to isolate, after families report a positive test result for COVID-19.

"Once you hear it, you are compelled to act upon it," Edmonton public school board chair Trisha Estabrooks said on Wednesday. "Early on, principals and staff within our division were essentially forced into becoming contact tracers."

As cases have skyrocketed in Alberta throughout the fall, Alberta's contact tracers became overwhelmed. Although Alberta Health Services (AHS) says it is prioritizing the investigations of K-12 student cases, a growing backlog means tracers are unable to track and record every case linked to a school.

The organizers of an anti-mask rally in Calgary that drew hundreds on the weekend have been chargedfor breaching public health orders. One of them isa downtown street preacher who was finedearlier in the pandemic for similar alleged behaviour.

Street preacher Art Pawlowskifaces tickets for failing to wear a face covering and failing to have an event permit. David Pawlowski and Ryan Audette each face a charge of failing to wear a face covering where required. Police are looking for three otherswho are alsofacing charges.

The protestshave taken place weeklyin the cityand across the country for months, but Saturday's was the first since Alberta's 10-person limit on outdoor gatherings was announced five days earlier.

A first-time breach of the Public Health Act is a$1,200 fine,police say. Mask bylaw violations are $50 fines.

Last week,Kenney announced new restrictions on gatherings and businesses.He also revealed that the R-value wouldbe the key metric in determining whether those restrictions would be lifted on Dec. 18.

Kenney said then he would evaluatethe restrictions on Dec. 15, and the province would need to have an R-value below 1.0 in order to lift the restrictions. Ideally, he said, the province would have a R-value of 0.8.

"That's the minimum metric goal that we must achieve by December the 15th," he said. "We must see the rate of transmission move below one. If we start to move it below one, then we know we have begun effectively to bend the curve."

An R-value of 1.0 means each person with the illness only infects one other person, on average. That would mean the number of infected people would be fairly consistent. Any number above 1.0means case numbers will grow.

Distress Centre Calgary says suicide-related calls, texts and chats were up 66 per cent in October compared with the same month in 2019.

Of the more than 4,800 interactions last month, nearly one-quarter dealt with suicide. That could mean someone contemplating ending his or her life or an attempt in progress.

"We're seeing it more back-to-back rather than the odd one here and there that is more intense," said Hannah Storrs, the centre's crisis team lead.

"People are dealing with a lot right now. They're dealing with isolation. They're dealing with mental health issues. They're dealing with financial issues on top of being just scared of what can happen in the world."

Here isthe regional breakdown of active cases reported onWednesday:

• Calgary zone: 6,445, up from 6,331,reported on Wednesday.
• Edmonton zone: 8,331, up from 7,857.
• North zone: 991, up from 967.
• South zone: 633,the same as Wednesday, down from 672 on Tuesday.
• Central zone: 1,251, up from 1,226.
• Unknown: 92, down from 100.

Find out which neighbourhoods or communities have the most cases, how hard people of different ages have been hit, the ages of people in hospital, how Alberta compares to other provinces and more in: Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta and what they mean

Kenney's approval rating has dropped from a high of 61 per cent last year to 40 per cent in a recent survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute.

Political observers say it's a reflection of how Kenney's UCP government has managed the COVID-19 pandemic, that he's been unable to placate those who would like to see more restrictions to rein in record cases of the coronavirus.

"You've got, politically, a premier that is really, you know, pleasing neither side and is being punished by both ends," said Shachi Kurl,president of the Angus Reid Institute, which conducted the survey during the last week of November.

The number of continuing care facilities in Alberta with COVID-19 outbreaks of two or more cases has more than tripled in three weeks, causing advocates to sound the alarm.

In three weeks, the total number of active COVID-19 casesin Alberta care homes has shot to 123 from 40.

As of Wednesday morning,351 residents of long-term care facilities or supportive/home living sites have died of COVID in the province since the pandemic began, according to the government.

That's 64 per cent of the 551 reported COVID deaths in Alberta.

At one of them,Clifton Manor in southeast Calgary, an ongoing outbreak has led to 74 COVID-19 cases and three deaths.

And two Edmonton long-term care centres battling deadly outbreaks of COVID-19, Capital Care Lynnwood and the Edmonton Chinatown Care Centre, are struggling to stay on top of patient care as the disease spreads among staff and residents. As of Monday, the Lynnwood facility was reporting 84 active cases 29 staff and 55 residents plus six deaths. At the Chinatown centre, there are active cases among 45 residents and 42 staff, while 12residents have died.

What you need to know today in Canada:

As of 9:30 a.m.ET on Thursday, Canada's COVID-19 case count stood at 389,775, with67,564of those cases considered active.A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC's reporting stood at 12,324.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to reassure the country on Tuesday that his government will be ready to deploy shots soon after they receive the necessary Health Canada approvals. He said the independent scientists reviewing the clinical trial data submitted by the drugmakers behind four promising vaccine candidates are working hard to ensure the safety of these products before Ottawa starts shipments.

The Liberal government ispreparing to spend up to $100 billion to kick start the post-pandemic economy as it stares down a record-high deficit projection of more than $381 billion for this fiscal year. The short-term stimulus package is valued at $70 billion to $100 billion over roughly three years. The government says the stimulus spending will launch after a vaccine is distributed and life begins to return to normal.

Manitobaon Wednesday reported there are351 people in hospitalwith COVID-19, including 51 in intensive care, marking yet another new record. The province also announced thatstudents in grades 7 to 12 will shift toremote learningfor two weeks following the winter break as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

British Columbiareported834 new cases Wednesday, back up from 656 Tuesday. The province also reported 12 new deaths, bringingthe provincial death toll to 457. Health officials said there were 336 people in hospital, including 76 in intensive care.

Saskatchewanreported 238 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.The seven-day daily average of new cases is 274 22.6 new cases per 100,000 population.As of Tuesday, Saskatchewan's rate of new cases remains the third highest in Canada, after Manitoba and Alberta.

Ontarioon Wednesday reported1,723 new cases of COVID-19, with 500 cases in Peel Region and 410 in Toronto. Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a tweet that44,200 tests had been completed. Health officials also reported 35 additional deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 3,698.

Hospitalizations increased to 656, with 183 people in intensive care units, according to aprovincial dashboard.

Health officials inQuebecon Wednesday reported1,514 new cases of COVID-19and 43 additional deaths. Hospitalizations increased to 740, with 99 patients being treated in intensive care units.

In Atlantic Canada,Newfoundland and Labradorreported one new case of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Therewere 11 new cases of COVID-19 reported on WednesdayinNunavut, which is at the end of atwo-week lockdown period that covered the entire territory. All of the new cases were reported in Arviat, where tight public health restrictions are still in effect.

TheNorthwest TerritoriesandYukonhad no new cases on Tuesday.

The head of a U.S. biotechnology company that is developing one of the most promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates says Canada is not far behind other countries when it comes to receiving doses of its vaccine, despite criticism of the government's procurement plan from the Conservative opposition.

"Canada is not atthe back of the line," Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of Moderna, told CBC's Chief Political CorrespondentRosemary Barton on Sunday.

Moderna Inc. said it would ask U.S. and European regulators Monday to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results confirm the shots offer strong protection ramping up the race to begin limited vaccinations as the coronavirus rampage worsens.

Self-assessment and supports:

With winter cold and influenza season approaching, Alberta Health Services will prioritize Albertans for testing who have symptoms, and those groups which are at higher risk of getting or spreading the virus.

General asymptomatictesting is currently unavailable for people with no known exposure to COVID-19.

Those who test positive will be asked to use the online COVID-19 contact tracing tool, so that their close contacts can be notified by text message.

The province says Albertans who have returned to Canada from other countries must self-isolate. Unless your situation is critical and requires a call to 911, Albertans are advised to call Health Link at 811 before visiting a physician, hospital or other health-care facility.

If you have symptoms, even mild, you are to self-isolate for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, until the symptoms have disappeared.

You can find Alberta Health Services' latest coronavirus updates here.

The province also operates a confidential mental health support line at 1-877-303-2642 and addiction help line at 1-866-332-2322, both available 24 hours a day.

Online resources are available for advice on handling stressful situations and ways to talk with children.

There is a 24-hour family violence information line at 310-1818 to get anonymous help in more than 170 languages, and Alberta's One Line for Sexual Violence is available at 1-866-403-8000, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.