Red Deer sees additional COVID-19 recovery, active cases now 5

There have been a total of 2,942 recoveries in the province thus far. According to Alberta Health, a recovered case can be generally defined as:

• If a case did not experience severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, anyone who is healthy after 14 days has passed.

• If a case required hospitalization, anyone who has passed 10 days following their date of discharge.

• If tested, two negative tests at least 24 hours apart.

Alberta Health says testing is only for hospitalizations or extreme circumstances, such as a health worker that needs to return to work as soon as possible. In those cases, a negative test result must be followed by another negative test result at least 24 hours later.

The vast majority of cases are declared recovered after 14 days have passed symptom free, Alberta Health adds. This approach allows us to use our testing more effectively by focusing it on identifying new cases and limiting spread in the community.

Central zone COVID-19 at a glance:
Red Deer 36 cases (5 active, 31 recovered)
Red Deer County 13 (2 active, 11 recovered)
Lacombe 2 (both recovered)
Lacombe County 3 (all recovered)
Ponoka County 2 (both recovered)
Clearwater County 3 (1 active, 2 recovered)
County of Stettler 3 (all recovered)

Dr. Hinshaw confirmed 469 cases connected to the JBS meat plant in Brooks.

The chief medical officer of health said those numbers “underline that this is not an outbreak limited to a worksite, but a complex outbreak that needs intervention across all settings.”

Hinshaw said she has heard stories of discrimination against newcomer families, with assumptions being made that any workers at JBS and the Cargill meat plant in High River and their families are a risk to others.

“People who are cases or close contacts will be supported by public health to self-isolate, but this is not required of all employees or families,” she said. “When people are stigmatized or targeted it blocks our collective ability to control the spread, as people may fear getting tested or talking to public health.”

“We should be supporting people who are in this situation, not stigmatizing them.”

She said employees at the plants should not be blamed or shamed for the spread of the virus.

“We are all in this together and our success in controlling spread will be based on how effectively we can help each other to take the measures that are required.”

Hinshaw also said cases don’t require a doctor’s note to return to work and revealed an outbreak at the Purolator distribution centre, where 30 people have been infected.

COVID-19 cases in Alberta (by zone):

3,905 cases in the Calgary zone
1,085 cases in the South zone
503 cases in the Edmonton zone
221 cases in the North zone
89 cases in the Central zone
33 cases in zones yet to be confirmed

Of these cases, there are currently 89 people in hospital, 21 of whom have been admitted to intensive care units (ICU).

733 in Alberta cases are suspected of being community acquired.

(With file from Chris Brown, CHAT News Today)

by Troy Gillard

Red Deer sees additional COVID-19 recovery, active cases now 5

What's Trending