Child care facilities across Alberta are experiencing a spike in COVID-19 outbreaks.
According to Alberta Health, 87 currently have an outbreak. Of those, more than half are in Calgary.
An outbreak is declared when five or more cases are linked to transmission within a business.
- North Zone: 9
- Edmonton Zone: 22
- Central Zone: 6
- Calgary Zone: 47
- South Zone: 3
In terms of the Calgary outbreaks, here’s a breakdown of the data from Alberta Health.
| Location | Total | Active | Recovered |
| 1st Class Child Care, Calgary | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| A2Z Kidz Ed., Calgary | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Active Start Childcare Country Hills Centre, Calgary | 16 | 4 | 12 |
| Active Start Childcare Sage Hill Centre, Calgary | 26 | 21 | 5 |
| Alpine Montessori Children’s Centre, Calgary | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| Bonavista Montessori Children’s Academy, Calgary | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| BrightPath Airdrie South | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| BrightPath Richmond, Calgary | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| BrightPath Sage Hill, Calgary | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Brightpath Whitehorn, Calgary | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Cancare Children’s Centre Arbour Lake, Calgary | 33 | 32 | 1 |
| Child Enrichment Centre, Calgary | 23 | 0 | 23 |
| Creative Learning Centre Daycare and Preschool (Canyon Meadows Dr.), Calgary | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Crossfield Montessori Childcare, Crossfield | 15 | 1 | 14 |
| Discovery Childcare, Calgary | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Early Discoveries Nursery School, Calgary | 19 | 0 | 19 |
| Early Explorers Learning Centre, Calgary | 12 | 10 | 2 |
| Evansfun Dayhome, Calgary | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Inner Garden Dayhome, Calgary | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Just for You Daycare Killarney, Calgary | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Kids & Company (Britannia), Calgary | 28 | 1 | 27 |
| Kids & Company (Evanston), Calgary | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| Kids Connection Daycare, High River | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Kids First Creative Childcare, Calgary | 23 | 18 | 5 |
| Kidsland Daycare (McKenzie), Calgary | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Kids U – McKnight, Calgary | 19 | 10 | 9 |
| Kidz Home, Calgary | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| La Societe Pommes de Reinette Daycare NE, Calgary | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| Leap n Learn, Okotoks | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| Little Roots Learning Centre, Calgary | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| Little Steps Preschool, Airdrie | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| Little Treasures Inglewood, Calgary | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Mahogany Learning Centre, Calgary | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Magic Mountain Daycare (Crossings), Airdrie | 70 | 12 | 58 |
| Magic Mountain Daycare (Kings Heights), Airdrie | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Mahogany Scholars Preschool, Calgary | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Mount Royal University Child Care Centre (2227 58 Ave.), Calgary | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| My Kinderhouse Preschool Country Hills, Calgary | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Pacekids Program, Calgary | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Private day home, Calgary | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Private day home, Calgary | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Ranchland Montessori Children’s Centre, Calgary | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Thornhill Child Care Centre (Bowness Montgomery), Calgary | 39 | 9 | 30 |
| Thornhill Child Care Centre (Centre St.), Calgary | 17 | 5 | 12 |
| Wee Wild Ones, Calgary | 56 | 22 | 34 |
| Willowbrae Childcare Academy, Calgary | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Wonder World Dayhome, Calgary | 8 | 8 | 0 |
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Monday the spike in child care facility outbreaks can be linked to a number of factors, but the biggest contributor is COVID-19 variants.
“We have seen that variant cases, when introduced into child care facilities — particularly the P1 variant cases — when those are introduced, they can spread more easily than we have seen, even with the B.1.1.7 or other variant cases.”
The P1 variant was first identified in Brazil.
Hinshaw adds the increase could also be, in part, due to a lower threshold for reporting outbreaks and the close monitoring of these types of businesses.
One Calgary child-care director attributes the outbreak at her facility to asymptomatic infections.
“They’re coming in and they don’t have any symptoms, so it’s really hard for us to know where the COVID-19 is coming from,” said Jenni Van Iderstine, director of Early Discoveries.
Given the surge in cases, the province is investigating if any additional measures need to be taken to improve child care facility safety.