On April 2, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, provided the following statements during her update on COVID-19 and the ongoing work to protect public health: “Today, I am reporting that we confirmed 96 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta. This brings the total number of cases to 968. Of these, 174 people have now recovered. That is 32 more than yesterday. We suspect 108 of our total cases may be community transmission, an increase of 14 from yesterday. I am also pleased to note that we conducted more than 4000 tests in the last 24 hours, as our lab continues to work at maximum capacity. Of these tests, approximately 98% came back negative, similar to previous days,” said Hinshaw. She went on to extend condolences to the families of two more Alberta men who passed away as a result of COVID-19 (one was in his 80s from the North Zone, and the other was in his 90s at the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre in Calgary).She went on to say that Alberta now has 74 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in continuing care facilities, and she expects more to be confirmed in the coming days (this includes 65 confirmed cases at the McKenzie Towne Long-term Care Centre and two new cases in the Manoir du Lac Retirement Home in the North Zone). According to Hinshaw as of April 2, there were nine outbreaks at continuing care facilities across the province. Some of these are due to staff members who have been confirmed cases working both at McKenzie Towne Long Term Care facility and another site. “It has become clear over the past couple of days that we must do more to protect those in congregate settings. That is why, effective today, I am issuing new standards that operators and staff of these facilities must follow in the event of a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 outbreak. By the end of today, it is likely we will reach over one million COVID cases worldwide. The way we go about our lives has changed, and we must continue to adjust to the new normal to help protect ourselves, and to protect our families, friends, and neighbours. This virus has shown how much our individual actions—no matter how small—can impact the lives of others and the tragic consequences that can result. We are all in this together, and we all have a role to play in keeping each other safe,” said Hinshaw. As of April 2, 57,096 COVID-19 tests had been completed in Alberta, and the Central Zone has 59 positive cases. Of those, the County of Vermilion River has two cases that have been present since March 22, (at that time only 10 were present in the Central Zone). To keep those numbers low, Hinshaw recommends continued social distancing and hand washing practices. For more information you can visit Alberta.ca

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