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

By David Opinko

Dr. Hinshaw calls out wave of discrimination against immigrants in Brooks & High River

May 4, 2020 | 4:15 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health says immigrant workers in Brooks and High River have experienced far more discrimination since their communities have faced significant COVID-19 outbreaks.

As of Monday, May 4, nearly 1,000 people in Brooks have tested positive for the virus including 469 employees at the JBS meatpacking plant.

As for High River, the community has 540 confirmed cases. Some employees at Cargill live in different areas so Dr. Deena Hinshaw confirmed 936 positive cases that are directly linked to that facility.

She says, while both of these workplaces have large numbers of employees who come from other parts of the world, merely focusing on that shows a lack of understanding of how viruses spread.

“Employees at these plants should not be blamed or shamed for spread of the virus. We are all in this together and our success in controlling spread will be based on how effectively we can help each other to take the measures that are required.”

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Dr. Hinshaw adds that, when people are stigmatized or targeted, they may fear getting tested or talking to public health officials.

“We should be supporting people who are in this situation, not stigmatizing them.

She also provided her regular daily update on COVID-19 infections.

On Monday, an additional 70 cases were confirmed across the province, which is one of the smallest numbers in recent weeks. This means that 5,836 people have tested positive to date and 2,942 have fully recovered.

A total of 164,722 tests have been administered, including 3,775 in the last 24 hours.

Nine new deaths were announced that were the result of the virus, eight of which came from the Calgary Health Zone and one was in Brooks. COVID-19 has led to the deaths of 104 Albertans.

The breakdown by regional health zone is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 3,905 cases, 70 deaths (eight new)
• South zone – 1,085 cases, six deaths (one new)
• Edmonton zone – 503 cases, 12 deaths
• North zone – 221 cases, 15 deaths
• Central zone – 89 cases, one death

The breakdown for the South Health Zone by community is as follows:

• Brooks – 998 cases (nine new), 235 recovered, five deaths (one new)
• Medicine Hat – 33 cases (one new), 21 recovered
• Lethbridge – 17 cases, 12 recovered
  • South Lethbridge – eight cases, five recovered
  • West Lethbridge – seven cases, seven recovered
  • North Lethbridge – two cases
• County of Newell – 11 cases, one recovered
• Cypress County – eight cases, seven recovered
• Cardston County – five cases
• Fort Macleod – two cases
• M.D. of Taber – two cases, two recovered
• County of Forty Mile – two cases, two recovered
• Lethbridge County – one case, one recovered