The City of Red Deer continues to be concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. City of Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer provided a live update this morning encouraging residents to take the new provincial health restrictions seriously.

In the update, she noted the Red Deer Regional Hopital is facing challenges with 62 people in hospital and 9 individuals in ICU. There have also been 6 deaths due to the virus in the city. The Mayor is concerned for the capacity at the hospital.

“It's absolutely imperative that we remain strong and remember that every measure that we take is not only to protect ourselves, but others and above all to protect capacity at our local hospital. It's not just about capacity at our local hospital hospital but rather for to protect ICU capacity and ventilators for those suffering from COVID,” said Veer.

Another concern for Veer is the exponential case growth in the City.

“Once we have a high caseload and additional cases, it's usually a couple of days later that then we will see so you know we're at our peak today with the just over the 880 cases. Today and those cases haven't necessarily translated proportionately into hospitalizations or in the ICU,” said Veer.

She encourages Red Deerians to familiarize themselves with the new restrictions and follow them in order to preserve Red Deer’s healthcare system. This afternoon, Alberta reported 883 COVID-19 cases in Red Deer.