Alberta’s chief medical officer of health continued to urge people to follow her health advice on Friday as she announced that another 46 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the province.
On June 5, there were 339 active cases in Alberta. The new cases confirmed on Friday brought that number to 512.
While Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province was expecting an increase in confirmed cases after Stage 2 of its relaunch plan took effect, she said Albertans need to continue to be vigilant about protecting against the novel coronavirus.
“The biggest lesson from the last two weeks is that we remain each other’s best defence against the virus,” she said.
“Every Albertan has a role to play in keeping their friends, family and neighbours safe.”
Twenty-four of the current cases can be linked back to two funerals in Alberta, Hinshaw said as she reminded Albertans that social gatherings and work meetings without distancing or wearing masks are risky.
Alberta Health said, so far, there have been no cases where a protest was considered the source of transmission.
For the first time since the pandemic began, Hinshaw mentioned confirmed cases that spread in an apartment building.
Twelve cases have been linked to a single building, likely through a high-traffic, high-touch area, she said.
“This emphasizes the need for cleaning and disinfection of these surfaces,” Hinshaw said.
She also announced a new outbreak at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.
As of Thursday, 10 employees of Suez Canada Waste Services, the company that operates the facility, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“AHS is keeping a very close watch of every outbreak, providing whatever testing and other support is needed,” Hinshaw said.
While numbers have continued to climb, Hinshaw said there are some positives.
First, most of the new cases are from a known source, which she said means health officials can stop the spread faster. Also, as of Friday, there were only 26 active cases in continuing care centres across the province.
That means 708 people with cases linked to continuing care centres have recovered.
As well, hospitalization rates have remained steady and have actually gone down over the last two weeks.
“We continue to monitor the level of cases and the hospitalization rate closely,” Hinshaw said. “It is a valuable measure of how the relaunch is going.”
As Albertans head into another weekend, Hinshaw urged people to continue to practise physical distancing, wear a mask if they can’t distance, wash their hands and stay home if they’re feeling sick.
“Diligently following the health measures in place means you are being considerate and caring, not over-cautious or afraid,” she said. “Let’s all see it as our personal responsibility to follow the health measures and keep people safe.”
To date, 6,961 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19. There were no new deaths reported on Friday. Thirty-nine people are currently in hospital, with six of those people in the ICU.
Comments