Photo: Government of Alberta

By Shaun Penner

Man in his 80's

North Zone adds second COVID-19 related fatality Wednesday

Apr 1, 2020 | 4:01 PM

The North Zone saw its second COVID-19 related fatality on Wednesday, as Alberta saw its largest increase in newly confirmed cases. Premier Jason Kenney announced 117 new cases in the province, bringing the total to 871.

The fatality in the North Zone was a man in his 80’s. A more specific location of that fatality will not be released by the province.

Wednesday’s announced fatality follows the passing of 34-year-old Shawn Auger from Grouard, who passed away on Monday.

A man in his 80’s from the McKenzie Towne Long Term care facility in Calgary was also announced to have died from COVID-19 related complications Wednesday. 11 individuals across Alberta have now died as a result of the disease.

Just one newly confirmed case was added in the North Zone out of the 117 added in Alberta, that being in the High Prairie area. There are now seven cases in that area, while there are now 51 cases in the North Zone.

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Premier Kenney said the spike is due to a backlog of tests that had developed finally being worked through. The backlog was due to a shortage of a re-agent essential to the testing. The premier also said that over 4,500 tests were processed in the past 24 hours.

Kenney adds the province continues to lead North America in per capita testing and has one of the highest testing rates in the developed world. Over 53,000 people have been tested in Alberta, while over 4,600 of those have been in the North Zone.

The total number of confirmed cases across the North Zone as of April 1 can be seen below:

• City of Grande Prairie: Two cases
• County of Grande Prairie: One case
• Valleyview: One case
• Falher: Seven cases
• High Prairie: Seven cases
• Peace River: Eight cases
• Slave Lake: Two cases
• High Level: One case

The premier also announced during Wednesday’s press conference that child care was being expanded to allow more essential services workers to qualify. More details on that announcement can be found here.