Apr. 27 Alberta COVID-19 Update: Small outbreak at Sturgeon General [UPDATED]

Editor’s note: This article was updated Tuesday morning after receiving confirmation from AHS on the small outbreak at Sturgeon hospital.

Above is the April 27 press briefing from the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw, scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

by Morinville News Staff

Alberta reported another 216 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total provincial cases to date to 4696. Of that number, 1664 (35.4%) Albertans have recovered, and 75 (1.5%) have died, two of those deaths in the last 24 hours.

To date, 458 of the province’s cases have been confirmed at continuing care facilities, where 50 residents at these facilities have died. Continuing care facilities account for two-thirds of the provinces deaths.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said Monday that four positive cases in Calgary’s homeless population have been identified. Approximately 1000 people experiencing homelessness have been tested thus far, and more details on testing among the homeless population in Alberta will be released in the coming days.

Hinshaw said there are 14 cases of COVID-19 in the Bearspaw First Nation in the South zone.
The Stoney Nakoda Tribal Council has a sophisticated emergency management system in place to contain the outbreak and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Emergency services, including isolation trailers and contact tracing, are already in place.

Small Outbreak At Sturgeon Hospital

Hinshaw said AHS is investigating two small hospital outbreaks at the Sturgeon General Hospital and Royal Alex, where Hinshaw said the cases seem to be linked within the facility. Neither investigation is interrelated; however, one case at Edmonton General is linked to Sturgeon General via a patient transfer.

“Swift action has been taken to contain the spread,” Hinshaw said. “There are no links between the two facilities. a quick response to these cases means that spread of the virus is being prevented. Patients and staff are being protected. It is important to be transparent about these situations so Albertans know we are sharing information as soon as we have it.”

Morinville News received confirmation for the province on Tuesday that the Sturgeon hospital outbreak involved the one patient who was transferred to Edmonton General on the weekend.

“The reason that it’s considered an outbreak at the Sturgeon is because the case is under investigation as a possible hospital-acquired case,” said Kerry Williamson, Executive Director, Issues Management Alberta Health Services. “We have had no related cases to date. Following contact tracing there have been no additional patient infections identified.”

Numbers on the Cargill and Brooks meat processing plants have not been given specifically. The City of Brooks has 568 cases presently, and High River has 524 active cases.

Continuing Care facilities account for 458 of the province’s cases, an increase of 23 more from Sunday.

To date, 135,442 tests have been conducted on 128,860 people, 3870 of those tests in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 87 Albertans in hospital, 20 of whom have been admitted to

Up-to-the-minute information on COVID-19 in Alberta is available at https://www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx?.

Localized case information can be found by following the links for interactive data on the above page.

Local information on Morinville’s handling of the pandemic is online at http://morinville.ca/covid19.

Please note: Morinville News is not able to provide details on the number of cases in specific municipalities as AHS is not providing that information unless it occurs in a particular facility. We are also not able to provide details on how individual cases in Sturgeon County or St. Albert are doing as AHS does not provide those details due to patient privacy.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

20 Comments

  1. for those who can not access the site at the moment, today’s story as follows:

    Apr. 27 Alberta COVID-19 Update: Small outbreak at Sturgeon General

    by Morinville News Staff

    Alberta reported another 216 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total provincial cases to date to 4696. Of that number, 1664 (35.4%) Albertans have recovered, and 75 (1.5%) have died, two of those deaths in the last 24 hours.

    Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said Monday that four positive cases in Calgary’s homeless population have been identified. Approximately 1000 people experiencing homelessness have been tested thus far, and more details on testing among the homeless population in Alberta will be released in the coming days.

    Small Outbreak At Sturgeon Hospital

    Hinshaw said AHS is investigating two small hospital outbreaks at the Sturgeon General Hospital and Royal Alex, where Hinshaw said the cases seem to be linked within the facility. Neither investigation is interrelated; however, one case at Edmonton General is linked to Sturgeon General via a patient transfer.

    “Swift action has been taken to contain the spread,” Hinshaw said. “There are no links between the two facilities. a quick response to these cases means that spread of the virus is being prevented. Patients and staff are being protected. It is important to be transparent about these situations so Albertans know we are sharing information as soon as we have it.”

    No numbers were given related to the investigation. We will provide details if and when available.

    Numbers on the Cargill and Brooks meat processing plants have not been given specifically as both facilities are closed. The City of Brooks has 568 cases presently, and High River has 524 active cases.

    Continuing Care facilities account for 458 of the province’s cases, an increase of 23 more from Sunday.

    To date, 135,442 tests have been conducted on 128,860 people, 3870 of those tests in the last 24 hours.

    There are currently 87 Albertans in hospital, 20 of whom have been admitted to

    Up-to-the-minute information on COVID-19 in Alberta is available at https://www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx?.

    Localized case information can be found by following the links for interactive data on the above page.

    Local information on Morinville’s handling of the pandemic is online at http://morinville.ca/covid19.

    Please note: Morinville News is not able to provide details on the number of cases in specific municipalities as AHS is not providing that information unless it occurs in a particular facility. We are also not able to provide details on how individual cases in Sturgeon County or St. Albert are doing as AHS does not provide those details due to patient privacy.

  2. The CTV news stated that it was 1 case at the sturgeon hospital and they transferred the person over to Edmonton General. If I didnt watch it on the tv news I would have never commented here.

    • Janette Pandachuck that is the one at Edmonton General as we say in the article posted in this thread. Facilities are not identified by name until there are two or more. So the small outbreak is at least two cases.

    • Yes I realize that but the 6 o’clock news said that it checked into it and there was only 1 case at the Sturgeon hospital and 2 at Royal Alex so it must have been an error in the release of case. If I recall correct the transferred the cases to Edmonton General.

Comments are closed.