Photo: Government of Alberta

By Shane Clausing

COVID-19 update April 5

Grande Prairie adds 109 COVID-19 cases over Easter weekend, Hinshaw provides update on P.1 variant outbreaks

Apr 5, 2021 | 4:13 PM

There were 109 new cases of COVID-19 identified in Grande Prairie over the Easter long weekend, along with 55 recoveries, there is currently 358 active cases of COVID-19 in the Swan City, the most at any time throughout the pandemic.

Over the long weekend, the County of Grande Prairie added 56 new cases and 22 recoveries, there are 151 active cases in the County.

From April 1-4 Alberta identified 3,987 new cases of COVID-19 on 45,654 tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 8.7 per cent.

There were 1,081 new cases identified on April 1; 1,072 on April 2; 948 on April 3; and 887 on April 4.

Updated case totals among Peace Region municipalities as of the end of day April 4 are as follows:

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• City of Grande Prairie: 2,272 cases (358 active, 1,890 recovered, 24 deaths)
• County of Grande Prairie: 717 cases (151 active, 562 recovered, four deaths)
• M.D. of Greenview: 468 cases (26 active, 439 recovered, three deaths)
• Birch Hills County: 12 cases (all recovered)
• M.D. of Spirit River: 51 cases (one active, 50 recovered)
• Saddle Hills County: 15 cases (one active, 14 recovered)
• M.D. of Smoky River: 117 cases (five active, 102 recovered, 10 deaths)
• Big Lakes County: 485 cases (15 active, 459 recovered, 11 deaths)
• M.D. of Lesser Slave River: 264 cases (right active, 256 recovered)
• M.D. of Peace: 499 cases (16 active, 483 recovered)
• M.D. of Fairview: 65 cases (six active, 58 recovered, one death)
• Clear Hills County: 106 cases (105 recovered, one death)
• Northern Sunrise County: 250 cases (seven active, 242 recovered, one death)
• County of Northern Lights: 99 cases (one active, 98 recoveries)
  

Across the province, hospitalizations grew from 292 to 312, while intensive care patients grew by 17 from 59 up to 76. In the North Zone, 32 people are in hospital, five of whom are in the ICU.

There were four deaths reported over the weekend, bringing the province’s COVID-19 death toll up to 1,998.

Over the weekend, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, tweeted out on her account that Alberta Health was investigating a significant COVID-19 outbreak containing the P.1 (Brazilian) variant of concern.

On her Twitter feed on Monday afternoon, Hinshaw provided an update and said the P.1 outbreak appears to be linked to a large employer with multiple sites across Western Canada.

She went on to say the outbreak began with a traveller returning to Alberta from outside of the province. To date, the spread has been confined to three work sites in the Central and North Zones, where employees travelled between sites.

So far, the province has identified 26 cases linked to employees at the three sites, however, only three cases have come back identified as the P.1 Brazilian variant.

Hinshaw mentioned Alberta Health is also investigating a P.1 outbreak at a workplace in the Calgary Zone.

Dr. Hinshaw added she is concerned with the rise in the number of cases in the province, including the variants. She asks people continue to follow all public health measures in place.

Dr. Hinshaw and the province are expected to provide a live update on Tuesday afternoon.