Athabasca's first coronavirus cases confirmed

Two individuals in the Athabasca area have tested positive for COVID-19, the first to be reported in the area since the world-wide pandemic was declared.

On April 22, a day when 306 additional cases were reported around the province, the area was highlighted on the province’s geospatial map, indicating the first positive case in the area surrounding Athabasca had been confirmed. On April 23, the map showed a second active case of coronavirus in the area.

The map is updated daily, shortly after the afternoon press conference from Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

There had been no confirmed cases of the virus in the area surrounding Athabasca until April 22, but residents have been expressing concerns about travellers to the area, who may be carrying the virus unknowingly and spreading it locally.

This includes the weekend lake-goers and those who work in the area during the week, often coming from the city or other location.

“I do hear concerns about people from other areas coming here,” said Athabasca County reeve Larry Armfelt. “I think people have to respect that now that we have two cases of the virus in the county, obviously it is serious. They should be respecting the seriousness of the situation.”

He advises residents to continue to follow the rules put in place by the health authorities, provincially and federally. Good hygiene, social distancing and self-isolation are all highly recommended as some of the more foolproof strategies to minimize exposure to the virus.

“I think, what I see, is 90 per cent of everybody is doing a pretty good job of social distancing and that sort of thing,” said Athabasca mayor Colleen Powell, adding that the other 10 per cent are normally good, upstanding citizens, but too many think they are the exceptions to the rules.

“I think part of it is that they haven’t internalized that the danger from COVID-19 is that you can be sick with it and never have symptoms, or you get symptoms two weeks later. You are a walking carrier,” said Powell.

“We have Typhoid Marys out there and they have no idea they could be passing this on.”

The latest government statistics, released April 25, show an increase of 216 new cases over the previous day, bringing Alberta's total to 4,233, which includes 73 deaths. About 70 per cent of the total cases are in Calgary. There are 475 cases reported in Edmonton, while the vast North zone, which includes Athabasca, Barrhead and Westlock, has 173 cases.

There are also 1,471 recovered cases documented in the province and nearly 127,165 tests have been conducted as of April 26.

In Canada, 44,569 total cases have been reported and 2,351 deaths have come as a result of complications due to COVID-19.

The provincial geospatial map can be found at https://covid19stats.alberta.ca/ , along with other relevant statistics.

On the map, it shows the County of Barrhead has reported two cases, both of which have recovered. Westlock County shows one active case and one recovered case. The M.D. of Lesser Slave River reports one active case and four recovered cases, while the M.D. of Opportunity remains clear of any cases, as do neighbouring Lac La Biche County, Smoky Lake County and Thorhild County.

Although the precise location of the Athabasca-area patients are currently unknown, the government map, when toggled to geographic area instead of municipality, shows Boyle still without a case.