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

By David Opinko

COVID-19 infections in Brooks explode, more cases confirmed in Lethbridge

Apr 17, 2020 | 4:18 PM

BROOKS, AB – The Government of Alberta has released its latest report on COVID-19 infections in the province.

239 new infections were confirmed across the province Friday, bringing the total to 2,397. Premier Jason Kenney says a large part of this sharp rise is due to most tests being processed.

Over the last 24 hours, 3,831 tests were completed.

A total of 1,124 Albertans have recovered.

No new deaths have been reported over the last day, keeping the number flat at 50.

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The data outage that was reported at the ministry earlier this week has been resolved so this is the first time since Tuesday that we have had numbers for specific health regions.

Since then, the number of cases in the South Health Zone has nearly doubled from 36 to 68. The majority of these cases came from Brooks. LNN’s sister station CHAT News Today reported Thursday that COVID-19 was confirmed at the JBS Food Canada Plant and a local continuing care centre.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says 358 cases have been confirmed in households linked to the Cargill meatpacking plant in High River, which is part of the Calgary Health Zone.

The number of confirmed cases per health zone is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 1,673 cases, 34 deaths
  • 38,423 tests
• Central zone – 774 cases, one death
  • 8,275 tests
• Edmonton zone – 429 cases, eight deaths
  • 28,970 tests
• North zone – 135 cases, seven deaths
  • 7,233 tests
• South zone – 68 cases, no deaths
  • 4,473 tests

The breakdown in the South Health Zone is as follows:

• Brooks – 32 cases, 29 new
• Medicine Hat – 13 cases (nine recovered), two new
• Lethbridge – 11 cases (eight recovered), two new
  • West Lethbridge – six cases (five recovered)
  • South Lethbridge – five cases (three recovered)
• Cypress County – six cases
• M.D. of Taber – two cases
• County of Forty Mile – two cases
• Lethbridge County – one case

Starting next week, Dr. Hinshaw hopes to be able to start breaking down the locations of where community transmission has been reported.