Alberta to look at whether coronavirus cases pre-date 1st confirmed case in March

The province of Alberta is looking at the possibility of serology testing to see whether any Albertans contracted COVID-19 prior to the first confirmed case on March 5.

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Other countries around the world, such as France and the United States, now say they have found cases of the novel coronavirus earlier than what has been previously reported.

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Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Wednesday that testing for COVID-19 in influenza samples in the surveillance network started in March but samples have not been tested prior to that.

Hinshaw said the province is looking at the possibility of serology testing, once they are validated, and sampling Albertans who may not have received confirmation of COVID-19 through a swab but may have had infection in the past and been unaware.

“Those studies are being looked at and going through ethics approval to make sure we’re framing them in a way that’s appropriate and that we’re thinking about who we would be offering those tests to,” she said.

“That may help give us some insight into whether or not people were in fact infected prior to the first case we knew about.”