Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, announced that there are three COVID-19 cases in a First Nation community in the Calgary zone.
Alberta health officials are also investigating two new cases at the Mountain View Poultry processing plant in Okotoks. Yesterday, Hinshaw said that an employee of Sofina Foods has tested positive; it’s been reported by CBC that the person works at a chicken processing plant in southeast Calgary.
There are also two poultries in British Columbia that have experienced COVID-19 outbreaks: Superior Poultry Processors in Coquitlam and the United Poultry processing plant in East Vancouver.
The five cases in Alberta are among the province’s 297 new patients which were identified in the last 24 hours, bringing Alberta’s total to 4,017. Hinshaw also reported four more fatalities, increasing the province’s death toll to 72. Three of the deaths were people in long-term care facilities, including the first at Edmonton’s Kensington Village, which has been experiencing an outbreak over the past month. The fourth fatality involved a male in his 90s from the Calgary zone.
Health officials have also seen 1,397 patients recover from the disease, an increase of 40 since yesterday. There are now 76 people in hospital, including 18 in intensive care.
The Cargill meat processing plant in High River now has 558 infections of COVID-19 among workers, an increase of 78 since yesterday. The JBS meat-packing plant in Brooks, Alta., has 156 cases, an increase of 32. Both plants have seen one of their employees pass away after contracting the virus.
Health officials believe that 350 cases are the result of community transmission. There are 399 cases at continuing care facilities across the province, resulting in the death of 47 residents.
As of the province’s last update, 122,447 tests have been administered in Alberta.
