3 new COVID-19 outbreaks identified in Calgary as city awaits decision on relaunch

Three more COVID-19 outbreaks have been identified in Calgary, as the city awaits a decision from the province as to whetherit will be safe for it to join the rest of Alberta in reopening restaurants and salons.

Alberta Health publicly posts outbreak data twice a week when five or more cases of COVID-19 are identified at a business.

This week, there were three new outbreaks reported in the Calgary zone:

• Eight cases at Golden Happiness Bakery in southeast Calgary.
• Eight cases at Thomas Fresh, a produce supplier in southeast Calgary.
• Five cases at the Subaru dealership on Meridian Road.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) said in the case of the Subaru outbreak, officials responded to several complaints relating toCOVID-19 precautions at the worksite, and ordered the dealership to develop a plan to maintain physical distancing.

Alberta Health Services said Golden Happiness Bakery voluntarily closed and will be reinspected before reopening.

There are now 16 outbreaks at businesses in the Calgary zone, and 17 outbreaks at seniors' homes.

Craig Jenne,an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, said while the new outbreaks are not surprising, health officials will be monitoring them closely.

"We know the virus is still in the community. When one person's infected there tends to be a small cluster around them," Jenne said.

"Right now numbers are looking positive in Calgary. They're staying low but we're not seeing them drop back down to near zero as we have in other health regions. So whether it'ssmall outbreaks or whether it is people that are starting to ease up on social distancing we are seeing some sustained spread of the virus here."

Calgary and Brooks haveseen the vast majority of Alberta's COVID-19 cases, so the provinceput the citieson a slower schedule than the rest of Alberta to reopen theireconomiesas there's a continued threat of infection. In Brooks, a single outbreak at the JBS meat-processing plant grew to cause the majority of the city's cases.

A decision on whether or not the citiescan move forward and allow restaurants and hair salons to reopen, with protections in place and reduced capacity, is expected byFriday.

Risk still remains

Jenne said if these small outbreaks grow or overwhelm the province's contact tracing system, then there will be reason for concern. And that will largely have to do with how well people follow the restrictions that are in place, he said.

"I think people getting complacent with the the recommendations and restrictions is probably the single largest threat to Calgary reopening, in that if people do not follow the guidelines we will not be able to bring these number of casesdown any lower," he said.

"I think that these small outbreaks are a very clear reminder that although viral numbers are trending in the right direction and are coming down overall, the virus is still in our community and if left unchecked, if people choose to gather in large groups and not maintain physical distancing, there is always the risk of another hotspot or outbreak."

While only 19 new people tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, daily testing in the province has recently decreased.

On Wednesday, 2,114 people were tested, up slightly from the previous day's 2,046 tests, but down from 2,928 on Monday.

• Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta and what they mean

Jenne also said it can be difficult to interpret what some of the testing numbers mean, because even thoughthe city has now been opened to asymptomatic testing, it's not a random sampling of the population as people volunteer to be tested.

"These are important points to consider when we're doing our modelling and trying to predict how the virus will continue to move through the community."