Alberta Health has confirmed 77 health-care workers in the province have tested positive for COVID-19.
It is not know which zones or specific health-care facilities have been impacted. This is the first time these numbers have been made publicly available.
In an email to Global News, spokesperson Tom McMillan said there are a number of investigations ongoing and the number of positive cases may change.
On March 24, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that 12 Alberta health-care workers had tested positive for the virus after attending a bonspiel in Edmonton earlier in the month.
Three of those patients are physicians who work in Red Deer. Doctors in Edmonton and Calgary zones were also impacted by the bonspiel, Hinshaw said. Hinshsaw said public health officials suspect the virus was spread at a buffet where serving spoons were handled by many people.
On April 1, Alberta Health clarified: “There were 22 positive cases among the 47 Albertan health-care workers who attended the bonspiel. Only the three Red Deer physicians previously announced saw patients while symptomatic. There have been no cases to date among any patients.”
On Monday, Hinshaw said there were five deaths linked to COVID-19 – bringing the total number of deaths in the province to eight.
An additional 29 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed March 30, bringing the total number of cases in Alberta to 690. The majority of the cases are in the Calgary zone.
As of last week, Alberta tweaked its approach to COVID-19 testing, implementing a new protocol that prioritizes at-risk populations and those at the highest risk of exposure.
“It will take us several days more of this new testing protocol to get enough data to understand our trends,” Hinshaw said Monday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the majority of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 were over the age of 45, with only two outlying cases under the age of 35.
Here is the most recent breakdown of the 47 hospitalizations by age:
- Under 1 year: 0
- 1-4 years: 0
- 5-9 years: 0
- 10-14 years: 0
- 15-19 years: 1
- 20-24 years: 0
- 25-34 years: 1
- 35-44 years: 8
- 45-54 years: 11
- 55-64 years: 6
- 65-79 years: 12
- 80+ years: 8
Alberta Health said 17 of the patients hospitalized have been admitted to intensive care units.
–with files from Julia Wong
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