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

By David Opinko

Province alters COVID rules for continuing care centres and for casino table games

Sep 3, 2020 | 3:50 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta has released Thursday’s report on COVID-19, detailing the numbers over the past 24 hours.

130 cases were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 14,310. Of those, 1,415 cases are active while 12,653.

This includes another five infections in the South Health Zone. Two were in Medicine Hat and there is one each in Lethbridge, Lethbridge County, and the M.D. of Taber.

There were no additional COVID-19 deaths anywhere in the province, meaning it has still claimed the lives of 242 Albertans.

Provincially, 46 patients are currently hospitalized and nine have been admitted to intensive care units.

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994,249 tests have been completed among 785,664 different people.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw signed two orders for COVID-19-related rules.

One allows operators of continuing care centres to shift to a “risk-based approach” after residents have been away from the site.

“In our previous approach, when residents left the facility, we used a measure of time spent off the site to determine when a resident needed to be in quarantine when they returned. This meant that any resident who is off-site overnight, for any reason, needed to be in quarantine for 14 days when they returned and there were no restrictions on those who left for shorter periods of time.”

“We heard clearly that this did not serve residents well.”

“Because of this, we are adjusting the requirements for quarantine on return to the facility to apply to high-risk outings, independent of the length of time the resident is away. Medium and low-risk outings will have less stringent precautions applied, such as continuous masking of residents once they have returned or enhanced symptom monitoring.”

The other order allows casino and racing entertainment centres to hold table games, assuming physical distancing guidelines are met.

The regional breakdown for COVID-19 in Alberta is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 7,679 cases, 639 active
  • 118 deaths
  • 322,860 tests
• Edmonton zone – 3,255 cases, 527 active
  • 62 deaths
  • 258,169 tests
• South zone – 1,755 cases, 34 active
  • 25 deaths
  • 55,082 tests
• North zone – 982 cases, 174 active
  • 30 deaths
  • 69,402 tests
• Central zone – 607 cases, 36 active
  • Seven deaths
  • 66,144 tests

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

• Brooks – 1,128 cases, two active, nine deaths
• Lethbridge – 159 cases (one new), 16 active, two deaths
  • West Lethbridge – 61 cases, 10 active, one death
  • South Lethbridge – 58 cases, four active
  • North Lethbridge – 40 cases (one new), two active, one death
• Cardston County – 103 cases, two active, five deaths
• Medicine Hat – 71 cases (two new), four active, two deaths
• County of Warner – 59 cases, zero active, one death
• M.D. of Taber – 39 cases (one new), one active
• Lethbridge County – 35 cases (one new), five active
• Fort Macleod – 33 cases, zero active, three deaths
• County of Newell – 32 cases, one active, two deaths
• Cypress County – 31 cases, zero active
• M.D. of Pincher Creek – 26 cases, zero active, one death
• County of Forty Mile – 24 cases, four active
• Crowsnest Pass – Two cases, zero active