A Sherwood Park health-care aide has died from COVID-19 – the fourth health-care worker to die in Alberta, according to her union.
Rose Vandelannoite, who worked at Summerwood Village Retirement Home and was also the chief steward, died from COVID-19 complications on Sunday, Liuna Local 3000 wrote in a tweet Monday. The union said she was infected at work in December and fought for her life. She is described as a devoted caregiver to the residents.
“Never too shy to stand up and speak her mind, she was a fighter and made sure that every worker and resident was treated compassionately, fairly and with respect,” the union wrote.
“Rose was a very proud mother who leaves behind two adult children, a loving extended family and many, many friends and co-workers who will miss her sorely.”
The union has also begun a fundraising campaign to cover her funeral expenses. As of Monday evening, $2,525 of the $10,000 goal had been reached.
The past week has been the deadliest in Alberta since the pandemic began, continuing a trend of more than 100 deaths a week since mid-December.
Twenty-three fatalities were reported Monday, totalling 139 over the past seven days. A total of 1,307 Albertans have died from COVID-19. As of Monday, more people had died from COVID-19 since Dec. 1 than all previous months combined since the pandemic began.
More than twice as many Albertans died from the disease in December than the month previous. Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 30, 495 people died from COVID-19, compared to 218 deaths between Oct. 30 and Nov. 30.
Another 639 new cases of the disease were reported Monday, and 811 people were in hospital including 130 in ICU. Lower case numbers are expected as fewer tests are being completed: there were 9,838 tests completed the previous day. The test positivity rate is 6.1 per cent. Prior to the holidays, between 15,000 to 20,000 tests were run every day.
