Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Total COVID-19 cases in Alberta nears 2,000

Apr 15, 2020 | 4:19 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The provincial government has released its latest report regarding COVID-19 infections in Alberta.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced 126 new cases were confirmed over the last day, bringing the total to 1,996.

No new deaths have been reported today, keeping the number flat at 48.

Over the last few weeks, Dr. Hinshaw says there have been a few meatpacking plants in the province that have been impacted by COVID-19.

For the Cargill facility in High River, Alberta Health Services will be opening a dedicated assessment centre in the coming week. A member of their union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, said Tuesday that 38 workers had tested positive.

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She also talked about an outbreak of the virus at the Kearl Lake Oilsands project north of Fort McMurray. Three people have tested positive and six others are awaiting testing results.

There has been a data centre outage at the ministry, meaning that specific details on new local COVID-19 cases will not be available until Thursday’s report.

Dr. Hinshaw was able to give a few additional numbers, however.

82,534 tests have been completed to date, or an average of about 1,900 per day.

44 patients have been hospitalized, 10 of which have been admitted to intensive care units (ICU). These numbers have remained stable and are below AHS’s projections from last week.

Just before Dr. Hinshaw made her remarks, Premier Jason Kenney announced an additional $53-million funding boost to mental health. More details here.