By Chris Brown

COVID-19 outbreaks at three Alberta schools, no change in Medicine Hat cases

Sep 10, 2020 | 3:46 PM

Alberta has confirmed 24 cases of COVID-19 present at 21 schools while infectious and the province now has confirmed outbreaks at three schools – two in Calgary and one in Lethbridge.

“I want to stress that while we are calling these outbreaks this is a very cautious use of the term,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Thursday. “We are acting out of an abundance of caution by treating two cases who are in a school while infectious within a 14-day span as an outbreak, even as the cases are within one family.”

Hinshaw said all outbreaks are still under investigation by AHS and there is no evidence of transmission within the school in any of the outbreaks at Calgary’s Henry Wise High School and St. Wilfrid Elementary School and Chinook High School in Lethbridge.

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health added they are striving to help parents have the information they need to best understand the risk of exposure their children face.

Any time one confirmed case is identified as being infectious while in the school and any time an outbreak is declared at a school, all parents and guardians will receive a letter from AHS through the school to ensure those most affected have the information needed are informed of the outbreaks, what is being done and the next steps.

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The province is committed to updating its online map identifying schools with two or more cases of COVID-19 each weekday with information validated as of that morning.

Hinshaw later said everyone – in school and out – has a part to play.

“All of us, whether students, parents, teachers, staff or anyone in our communities, that each of us needs to take the responsibility for making sure that we are not in a position where we could either acquire COVID-19 or pass it along should we get it.”

“And so schools can do a certain amount and then the rest of us need to pick up that responsibility.”

She encouraged parents to have those conversations about making decisions and being leaders in stopping the COVID spread.

Hinshaw also reported the results of the retrospective testing done based on samples, originally taken for other respiratory viruses collected between Dec. 1 and March 7, two days after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the province.

“From these more than 23,000 samples, I’m pleased to report that we detected only one case of COVID-19,” she said. It came from a sample collected on Feb. 24, nine days before the first detected case. The individual had travelled from the U.S.

For comparison, Hinshaw said, a retrospective study in China found a case from November 2019 and France’s first detected case was found to be from December.

Hinshaw announced Albertans can now get their COVID-19 test results – positive or negative – through text message or an autodialer phone system. She said this will help get test results to Albertans quicker, which will be vital to limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the coming weeks and months.

Additionally, the restrictions on indoor hot tubs and saunas have been lifted.

Medicine Hat cases of COVID-19 are unchanged. The city has three active cases, 67 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The province confirmed 113 new cases on Thursday, for a total of 15,304 cases in Alberta over the course of the pandemic.

The province now has 1,494 active cases, down 91 from Wednesday, and 13,557 recovered cases, up 219.

There are currently 43 Albertans in hospital, seven in ICU. There are 253 deaths, up five from Wednesday. The deaths happened over the past few days, Hinshaw said.

The province conducted 9,711 tests in the past 24 hours.

In the South Zone, there are 1,774 total cases. There are 37 active cases and 1,712 recovered. There are currently no COVID-19 cases in hospital in the South Zone and the zone total remains at 25 deaths.

Cypress County has totaled 31 cases – all recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 25 total cases, four active cases and the rest recovered.

The MD of Taber has 39 total cases — all recovered.

Special Areas No. 2 has 13 total cases, all of which are recovered.

Brooks has 1,128 total cases —1,117 are recovered and two are active. Brooks has recorded nine deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 32 cases — 30 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 62 total cases. Of those, three are active, 58 are recovered cases and there has been one death in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 164 cases. There are 11 active cases, 151 recovered and there have been two deaths. Lethbridge County has 42 cases, 10 active cases and the rest recovered.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day Sept. 9, 2020.”

You can read the full Sept. 10 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, none in the South Zones thus far, with the location of one case pending.

Saskatchewan has a total of 1,676 cases, 59 considered active. There are 1,593 recovered cases and there have been 24 COVID-19 deaths in the province.