Analytics and Performance Reporting Branch
Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit
2025-Mar-25 14:14
COVID-19 in First Nations People (all Alberta)
Note: This report includes First Nations people living on and off reserve.
Highlights
Total cases
Percent positivity
Total hospitalizations ⚱
Total ICU
Total deaths
Total doses administered ⚱
Summary
Table 1. Summary of COVID-19 in First Nations people, 2019-2020 to 2023-2024
| Season | Cases (n) | Hsopitalization (n) | ICU (n) | Deaths (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 431 | 42 | 8 | 8 |
| 2020-2021 | 19609 | 1188 | 251 | 177 |
| 2021-2022 | 22721 | 1310 | 236 | 197 |
| 2022-2023 | 1725 | 302 | 46 | 34 |
| 2023-2024 | 1273 | 281 | 33 | 21 |
| 2024-2025 | 529 | 127 | 9 | 7 |
Figure 1: COVID-19 cases in First Nations people by week, 2023-2024
Characteristics
Table 2. COVID-19 cases in First Nations people by age group, 2023-2024
| Age group | Cases (n) | Percent (%) | Rate (per 100K) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 years | 44 | 8 | 342.2 |
| 5-11 years | 7 | 1 | 34.5 |
| 12-19 years | 19 | 4 | 77.0 |
| 20-29 years | 52 | 10 | 183.2 |
| 30-59 years | 220 | 42 | 343.4 |
| 60-79 years | 132 | 25 | 839.7 |
| 80+ years | 55 | 10 | 3763.1 |
Figure 2: COVID-19 case rate in First Nations people by age group, 2023-2024
Severe outcomes
Table 3 . Total Hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths (ever) among COVID-19 cases in First Nations people by flu season
| Count | Pop.rate | Count | Pop.rate | Count | Pop.rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 | 127 | NA | 9 | NA | 7 | NA |
| 2023-2024 | 281 | 167.8 | 33 | 19.7 | 21 | 12.5 |
| 2022-2023 | 302 | 180.4 | 46 | 27.5 | 34 | 20.3 |
| 2021-2022 | 1310 | 783.1 | 236 | 141.1 | 197 | 117.8 |
| 2020-2021 | 1188 | 705.4 | 251 | 149.0 | 177 | 105.1 |
| 2019-2020 | 42 | 54.4 | 8 | 10.4 | 8 | 10.4 |
Geospatial
Table 4. COVID-19 cases in First Nations people by zone
| Zone | Cases (n) | Percent (%) | Rate (per 100K) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary Zone | 77 | 15 | 246.3 |
| Central Zone | 82 | 16 | 392.3 |
| Edmonton Zone | 164 | 31 | 341.9 |
| North Zone | 169 | 32 | 323.9 |
| South Zone | 37 | 7 | 245.1 |
Figure 3: Weekly COVID-19 cases in First Nations people by zone, 2023-2024
Laboratory testing
Figure 4: People tested for COVID-19 in First Nations people in Alberta, 2023-2024
Figure 5: Weekly test positivity rate for COVID-19 in First Nations people, 2023-2024
Figure 6: Positivity rate for COVID-19 in First Nations people by zone.
Vaccinations
Notes:
Currently, 12 (out of 27) First Nation Public Health Offices submit vaccination data to Alberta Health. For this report, people who received vaccines in those First Nations Public Health Offices or people who were identified as First Nations based on First Nations Registry were included. Additional aggregate doses reported by First Nations Inuit and Health Branch, Indigenous Services Canada, were included in the summary section and Table 2.
Table 5. Count and rate of vaccination by age group in First Nations people by zone, 2023-2024
| Zone | Total administered | Population | Coverage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Zone | 1,158 | 15,197 | 7.5 |
| Calgary Zone | 2,596 | 31,447 | 8.2 |
| Central Zone | 903 | 21,073 | 4.3 |
| Edmonton Zone | 3,162 | 48,253 | 6.5 |
| North Zone | 1,871 | 52,671 | 3.5 |
| Unknown | 22 | NA | NA |
| Alberta | 9,712 | 168,641 | 5.7 |
Figure 7: COVID vaccine doses administered in First Nations people by week in Alberta,2023-2024
Data notes
Data sources
Each COVID-19 case is assigned a First Nations status if they are on the cumulative First Nations Status Registry. The First Nations Status Registry is a listing of all Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) registrants who have ever been associated with a First Nations group number since 1983. Furthermore, if an individual without ever showing a First Nations group number is on an AHCIP account for which the main registrant has had a First Nations group number at some point since 1983, the individual is also placed on the First Nations Status registry.
The Provincial Surveillance Information system (PSI) is a laboratory surveillance system which receives positive results for all Notifiable Diseases and diseases under laboratory surveillance from Alberta Precision Labs (APL). The system also receives negative results for a subset of organisms such as COVID-19. The system contains basic information on characteristics and demographics such as age, zone and gender.
Recovered is based on the assumption that a case is recovered 14 days after a particular date. For confirmed cases, we used specimen collected date and for probable cases, this is the date reported to Alberta Health.
Information such as hospitalizations and ICU admissions are received through enhanced case report forms sent by Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Disclaimer
The content and format of this report are subject to change. Cases are under investigation and numbers may fluctuate as cases are resolved. Data included in the interactive data application are up-to-date as of midday of the date of posting.