An outbreak of COVID-19 at a south Edmonton care centre has led to the deaths of nine residents.
According to an update on the Good Samaritan Society’s website Friday afternoon, nine residents at the Southgate Care Centre home have died of the disease since the outbreak was declared. This is an increase of three deaths since the last update was posted on Thursday afternoon.
As of Friday afternoon, there were 41 active cases of COVID-19 in residents at the home, according to the society. In addition, there are 16 active cases in employees. One resident and four employees have recovered.
On Friday afternoon, a spokesperson with Alberta Health said they were aware of one additional death at the facility.
“There are several different potential reasons for occasional discrepancies involving deaths. When a death occurs, facilities are notified immediately, while notification to Alberta Health through the provincial reporting system can sometimes be slightly delayed,” Tom McMillan said.
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The care home is located in Edmonton’s Duggan region, which is on the province’s “watch” list. An area is placed under the watch category when a local municipal district has 50 active cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with at least 10 active cases.
As of Friday morning, the Duggan area was listed as having 47 active cases of COVID-19 and an active case rate of 116.3 per 100,000.
On Thursday, Alberta reported 114 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths related to the disease.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health expressed concern with the rising number of cases in the province.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said there were 106 people in hospital, 21 of whom were in intensive care as of Thursday afternoon. That marked the highest number of admissions on a single day since 113 people were admitted to hospital on April 30.
“This needs to be a wake-up call,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said. “I am very concerned by these numbers.”
The number of active cases in Alberta has spiked from 590 on July 9 to 1,293 on Thursday.
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