Yesterday (March 11) marked two years since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

It was also a day that the Province of Alberta marked a sad milestone.  Eleven more deaths related to COVID-19 were reported by the province bringing the death toll to more than 4,000.  The 11 deaths mean that now 4,003 Albertans have passed away from the illness.  To put that into some context, the number of Albertans who died from influenza during the 2019-2020 flu season was 39. 

On March 11th, 2020, the day WHO first declared the pandemic, Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said, "COVID-19 is not like other threats we have seen in the past decade."  Hinshaw's comment has turned out to be a major understatement.  On that day the province reported five new cases which brought our total to 19.  In the past two years, there have been over half a million cases of COVID-19 reported in Alberta.    More than 21,000 people in the province have been hospitalized with around 3,600 needing intensive care. 

Statistics from WHO show 6,028,852 deaths worldwide attributed to COVID-19.  In Canada, there have been 3,349,647 confirmed cases of the virus and 37,229 deaths.  

In Alberta yesterday, 1,045 people were being treated in hospital for the virus.  That number is down 139 from last week.  In ICU there were 74 Albertans yesterday.  There are now 6,545 known cases of the virus in the province although that only includes people who tested positive through a PCR test that most Albertans are unable to access. 


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