Cases spike again in Brooks, another three in Medicine Hat

The South Zone now has a 303 cases, the majority of which are in Brooks. The case count in that city rose by 100 to 257, all active.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said there are two deaths in Brooks in people with COVID tests pending. One of the individuals was a worker at the JBS meat packing plant, where there are 96 confirmed cases.

“While we do not know if these two deaths were COVID-related, I want it to be clear that investigations are underway to determine that,” she said.

The Deputy Minister of Labour and Immigration said Occupational Health and Safety investigations are underway with regards to the death at JBS.

Cypress County still has eight cases, seven active and one recovered. The County of Forty Mile and the MD of Taber each have just two cases, all recovered.

The County of Newell has one active case.

There has been a total of 113,499 tests completed.

In terms of hospitalizations across the province, 70 people are in hospital with 18 admitted to ICU. Hospitalizations have risen but are still well below modelling projections released two weeks ago.

That has Premier Jason Kenney looking ahead.

“Overall Albertans are still doing a very good job of containing and managing this pandemic,” said Kenney. “If we stay vigilant and disciplined about practising rigorous personal hygiene, staying home as much as possible and maintaining physical distancing, wearing a face covering in crowded spaces and following all of the other public health orders , we’ll be able to look at cautiously restarting the economy as soon as possible on the advice of our public health officials.”

Kenney said he will meet with the relaunch working group Thursday and hopes to release more details next week.

Knowing people are getting increasingly impatient but again said there is a risk to re-opening the economy too soon.

“if we let the virus loose we would lose the value of all of the sacrifices we’ve made to date and we would simply have to shut down even more of our economy, more harshly and probably for a longer period of time causing even more damage.”

Still he believes there is light at the end of the tunnel for Alberta.

Hinshaw said there are two important indicators of when public health guidelines may begin to be loosened.

“One is that we’re seeing stable or declining rates, particularly of hospitalization which is going to be our most stable indicator over time,” she said, adding stable or declining case numbers over one or two weeks would also be important.

All would be part of a larger examination of the pandemic, which would include where the cases or outbreaks are and the means to control a particular outbreak.

She also announced the first COVID-19 case has been confirmed on a First Nation. The chief medical officer of health said the Sucker Creek First Nation asked the province to disclose the case to ensure accurate information. She said there is no outbreak there and the case originated through a contact in High Prairie.

Kenney praised the many volunteers and organizations who have been stepping up to help their neighbours and announced the launch of the Alberta Cares Connector. The website will help connect interested volunteers with local charities that are looking for assistance.

He also announced the Northern Lights Award that will recognize “Albertans who are doing amazing things in their communities to help the fellow Albertans.”

The first recipient is a Owen Plumb, Grade 9 student from Okotoks who is printing 3-D protective face shields for frontline workers.

The premier also announced Alberta shipped 25 ventilators to Quebec on Monday and 20,000 procedural masks will be sent to the Northwest Territories later this week.

The full April 22 update from the province can be found here.

by Chris Brown

Cases spike again in Brooks, another three in Medicine Hat

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