A Coaldale church is the latest Lethbridge-area organization to be added to Alberta’s COVID-19 outbreak list.
On Friday, R.O.C. Christian Ministries in Coaldale became the region’s seventh active outbreak for the novel coronavirus.
Alberta Health said there are 15 cases linked to the church, all of which are active.
“We heard about the first confirmed case on Wednesday, October 7 (not from AHS), and immediately closed so that there could be no further transmission,” the church told Global News in an email Friday evening.
“Our people were all informed by Thursday morning of what had happened.
“AHS contacted us Thursday afternoon, we told them we had already closed, and they are now guiding us on next steps.
“We are, of course, extremely concerned by this outbreak, and will continue to work with AHS,” the church said.
As of Friday, COVID-19 outbreaks in the Lethbridge-area are as follows:
· Extendicare Fairmont Park: two cases (one active, one recovered)
· Lethbridge Family Services: six cases (two active, four recovered)
· Cavendish: 13 cases (all active)
· Children’s House Child Care Society: 18 cases (all active)
· Lethbridge Coalhurst Good News Centre (Coalhurst): 43 cases (21 active, 22 recovered)
· Meridian Manufacturing: eleven cases (six active, five recovered)
· ROC Christian Ministries (Coaldale): 15 cases (all active)
Four schools in Lethbridge are also under outbreak protocols. Outbreaks are declared in Alberta schools where there are two or more cases.
They include St. Teresa of Calcutta School, St. Francis Junior High School, Ecole St. Mary and Ecole La Verendrye.
As of Friday, the City of Lethbridge and surrounding Lethbridge County both remained under a COVID-19 ‘watch.’
Sixteen new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the city, 138 cases are now active and to date, there have been 326 cases.
In Lethbridge County, there were two new cases identified for a total of 105, but the active case count has fallen slightly to 40.
WATCH: (Oct. 14, 2020) Lethbridge continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases. A number of businesses in the area are currently classified as having outbreaks. Quinn Campbell has the details.