St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron says she is concerned to see a significant spike in COVID-19 cases in St. Albert, as the city jumps to 14 active cases.
St. Albert has not seen a case count this high since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, the city's case count began to rise, going from zero to 10 in a four-day span. That upward trend has continued.
“I (am) concerned about it. I wouldn't say it's a small spike, it's kind of significant. I think we probably have the most cases – active cases – now than we ever have,” Heron said.At the beginning of the pandemic, most cases were concentrated in Calgary and southern Alberta, while Edmonton's cases remained low.
“Now it’s the reverse and it's very concerning,” Heron said.
The entire city of Edmonton is under a COVID-19 watch issued by the provincial government – meaning the province is monitoring the risk but no additional health measures have been put in place.
Sturgeon County has also seen a spike to 16 active cases as of Tuesday afternoon while Morinville has five active cases. Edmonton currently has 534 active cases, with most concentrated in the northeast of the city.
Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said most of Edmonton’s spike in numbers have stemmed from social gatherings.
In St. Albert, a McDonald’s employee has tested positive for COVID-19, which shut down the location at 369 St. Albert Trail. The location closed over the weekend and remained closed Tuesday. The employee worked their last shift on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 1 to 8 p.m. Anyone who may have visited this location during that time period should follow the appropriate precautions and directives from Alberta Health Services, as found on its website at albertahealthservices.ca.
Hinshaw said cases tend to be identified weeks after an interaction occurs, and the current spike in infections stems from the beginning of August.
“Identified cases are often the outcome of activities that happened several weeks before,” Hinshaw said Tuesday.
The mayor said the mask bylaw, which came into effect at midnight on Aug. 8, used with other health measures, will slow the virus’ spread in the community.
“You'll never know what the cases would have looked like if there was no mask bylaw. We can’t compare because we can’t measure something that doesn’t happen,” Heron said.
Heron said it is important to wear masks while also following other health guidelines.
Other public officials echoed the mayor's sentiment. Both St. Albert MLAs reminded residents to wear masks, wash hands, physically distance and stay home when feeling ill.
“We're in the middle of a global pandemic, but the answer isn't to hide in our house. So we have to find that balance between safety and community,” Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally said.
St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud said she noticed people are doing really well with wearing masks in public but has seen some physical distancing measures start to slip.
“I think it's hard to be this vigilant for such a long period of time, and so I think it's just so important for people to just create these habits, especially as kids go back to school,” Renaud said.
The MLA is advocating to the government to put a COVID-19 testing site in St. Albert, which she said will be important to all of the surrounding communities, especially as kids head back to school.
Before teachers head back to school, which starts Aug. 31, Hinshaw recommends they get an asymptomatic COVID-19 test done, although children are only encouraged to get the test done if they are sick.
There are currently 1,169 active cases in the province with 636 in the Edmonton zone. There have been 225 total deaths. Forty-eight people are currently hospitalized with 11 in the intensive care unit.
So far, a total of 55 people have contracted COVID-19 in St. Albert. One person has died and 40 people have recovered.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
