Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw delivers an update on COVID-19 in Alberta on April 10, alongside ASL translator Randy Dziwenka. (Gov't of Alberta livestream)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

update 28 - april 10

Hinshaw: More masking required at continuing care facilities as cases rise to 1,500

Apr 10, 2020 | 4:16 PM

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Alberta has risen to 1,500, 49 more than a day ago.

There have also been seven new deaths — the largest single day jump — bringing the provincial total to 39.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, revealed the new numbers on Friday.

She added that 713 people have recovered, 201 cases may be from community transmission, and that 2,103 tests were done in the last 24 hours. There are also currently 48 people in hospital and 13 in ICU.

Around 6,000 people have been referred for COVID-19 testing in recent days, therefore Hinshaw is expecting higher numbers of cases to be confirmed in the days ahead. More than 70,000 people have been tested since the pandemic began.

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Hinshaw has also ordered new rules for continuing care facilities which require workers in those places to wear masks when doing direct patient care, and when within two metres of another person. Four of the seven deaths declared Friday were at the McKenzie Towne continuing care facility where there have now been 17 people to pass away.

Asked why these new mask requirements hadn’t been in place already, she said the province needed to ensure it had the resources to make it feasible.

“Masks were required when caring for patients who had illness for the protection of the workers. That’s alway been the case. Less than a week ago, we talked about the fact that asymptomatic transmission — the evidence emerging has been deemed to be enough to say there’s a higher risk of asymptomatic or presymptomatic transmission than we’d previously understood,” she explained.

“Part of this recommendation of having workers wear masks at all times is making sure that all of these sites have enough masks, enough personal protective equipment, to put this into place.This will require an increased volume of personal protective equipment for all those workers to protect the people they’re caring for.”

Hinshaw said the province is looking at how it can support some of the workers who may depend on working at multiple facilities to make a living.

Numbers for some Central Zone communities/regions:

Red Deer: 16 active, 16 recovered
Red Deer County: 6 active, 8 recovered
Innisfail: 0 active, 1 recovered
Lacombe: 0 active, 2 recovered
Lacombe County: 1 active, 3 recovered

Looking for data or another municipality or region? Click HERE and find the ‘geospatial’ map.

The province will not be holding press conferences on Saturday and Sunday, and will return on Monday. New data will still be released over the weekend.

More information is at Alberta.ca/covid19