There was mixed news from the COVID-19 battlefront on Saturday (December 19).

While active cases of the virus fell in the province as well as in the City of Airdrie and Rocky View County, 26 more Albertans lost their lives to the virus and the number of hospitalizations and people in ICU continued to rise.

Alberta reported 1,352 new cases from 18,502 tests.  That makes the provincial positivity rate 7.35 percent.  There are now 19,260 active cases as that number fell for the fifth consecutive day.    

26 deaths were reported yesterday but ten of them happened on Friday.  That makes the tragic number of Albertans who have died from the virus now 841.

Hospitalizations rose to 777 while people being treated in intensive care units also rose to 151.

Airdrie has recorded 1,372 cases of COVID-19 to date.  273 remain active while 1,091 people have recovered and there have been eight deaths.  

Rocky View County has had 602 cases with 112 still active and 489 recoveries.  There has also been one death in the county. 

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