Foothills Medical Centre. (Lethbridge News Now)

By rdnewsNOW staff

patients, staff, students affected

COVID-19 outbreaks declared at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre, U of A residence in Edmonton

Sep 21, 2020 | 11:17 AM

CALGARY, AB – Visitation to the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary is being limited as staff and patients deal with an outbreak of COVID-19.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) reports that 10 patients and two staff members tested positive for the virus, impacting three units.

All at-risk patients on the units are being offered testing. Contact tracing is ongoing for those who have potentially been exposed.

“While we appreciate it may be difficult for some, visitors to the units are limited to only end of life situations until further notice,” reads a statement from AHS. “The Foothills Medical Centre remains a safe place to visit and to receive care – there is no increased risk to patients coming to the hospital. Any patient with symptoms, or who has tested positive for COVID-19, is isolated and treated in designated rooms.”

The agency assures that all AHS facilities, including Foothills, follow rigorous infection prevention and control standards.

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All healthcare workers are asked to self-assess for COVID-19 symptoms and exposure risk using a screening tool before reporting to work.

On August 23, a COVID-19 outbreak was declared at a different Calgary hospital, Peter Lougheed Centre.

More information on restrictions at AHS healthcare facilities can be found here.

In Edmonton, a confirmed outbreak of COVID-19 at a student residence on the main campus of the University of Alberta means there will be no varsity athletics activities on the campus for the next 14 days.

A statement from the university says five members of the men’s residence of St. Joseph’s College have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. They are isolating, along with the 14 other men living at the residence, and the university says areas the five have had access to are being sanitized and deep cleaned.

The website for the residence says, along with spiritual direction and daily mass, the residence is also a leader of the university’s intramural sports program.

The university says it doesn’t know which sports may have been specifically affected, but is shutting down in-person varsity athletics for the next two weeks.

It says individuals who may have been exposed will be contacted by health officials.

The statement says all other residences at the University of Alberta are considered safe and the risk of exposure is low.

(With file from The Canadian Press and David Opinko – Lethbridge News Now)