Canada COVID-19 Update: 622 new cases, five deaths | Blood Tribe reports case in reserve school | Calgary jail outbreak poorly managed, union says

Phoenix Rising FC relinquishes hosting rights for 2020 USL Championship Final after earning home-field in part due to forfeit

Phoenix Rising relinquished claim to home-field advantage for the 2020 USL Championship Final out of respect to the LGBTQ community.Having tied Louisville City FC in total points and victories thanks to a forfeit by San Diego Loyal, Phoenix Rising had earned hosting priority based on a third tiebreaker: goal differential. But because that forfeit was the result of San Diego's protest of an alleged homophobic slur by Phoenix forward Junior Flemmings, Rising management recognized what might have been a glaring optics issue.

© Provided by Calgary Herald The Pandemic Response Unit at Peter Lougheed Centre, built to handle COVID-19 patients, on Oct. 30, 2020.

With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary.

What’s happening now

• The province reported 622 new cases of COVID-19 on 12,938 tests and five additional deaths. There are 5,172 active cases in Alberta and 2,034 in Alberta Health Services’ Calgary zone.
• The union representing Alberta jail workers said Friday the COVID-19 outbreak at the Calgary Correctional Centre has been badly mismanaged. The outbreak now has 132 cases — 112 in inmates and 20 in staff.
• The Alberta government is blocking the federal COVID-19 app from being used in Alberta, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a radio interview with an Edmonton station on Friday. The province has said the delay stems from trying to transition those on the provincial app to the federal one.
• The Glenbow Museum will be closed until Nov. 14 after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
• The Blood Tribe in southern Alberta has reported a single case of COVID-19 at a school on the reserve.
• Alberta is removing runny nose and sore throat from the daily symptom checklist requiring school-aged children to stay home for 24 hours starting Monday. It is also relaxing recommendations when children only have one of the non-core COVID-19 symptoms.
• The McDonald’s in Mount Pleasant closed temporarily Thursday after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
• Mayor Naheed Nenshi is calling Wednesday for the provincial government to bring the federal contact tracing app to Alberta as COVID-19 cases spike.
• Calgary now has 11 schools on watch status of five or more cases.
• Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced a new mandatory limit in Calgary and Edmonton of 15 people on social gatherings where “people are mixing and mingling.”

Have you been impacted by COVID-19?

Postmedia is looking to speak with people who may have been impacted by the growing second wave of COVID-19 here in Alberta. Do you have a family member in the Foothills hospital? Did you attend the recent wedding that led to 51 cases? Send us an email at reply@calgaryherald.com to tell us your experience, or send us a message via this form .

COVID-19 Update: 432 new cases, four deaths | 55 cases in outbreak at Calgary Correctional Centre

With news on COVID-19 happening rapidly, we’ve created this page to bring you our latest stories and information on the outbreak in and around Calgary. What’s happening now The province reported Friday 432 new cases of COVID-19 from 15,208 tests and four additional deaths. There are 3,651 active cases in Alberta and 1,307 in Alberta Health Services’ Calgary zone. There are now 55 cases — 50 in inmates and five in staff — connected to the outbreak at the Calgary Correctional Centre. Calgary Emergency Management Agency chief Tom Sampson is “highly concerned” with the rise of COVID-19 cases.

Alberta government blocking federal COVID Alert app, Trudeau says

© Provided by Calgary Herald The COVID Alert app is seen on an iPhone in Ottawa on July 31, 2020.

The Jason Kenney government is blocking the federal COVID Alert app from being used in Alberta, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in an Edmonton radio interview Friday.

“(The app) will be a lot more useful when the province decides to give people the ability to plug in the codes,” Trudeau said in an interview with 630 CHED.

“That’s all that’s missing, and we really hope that people will take on every tool we possibly can to fight COVID-19.”

Read more .

Alberta reaches record highs in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations

© Ed Kaiser Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

Friday marked a record-breaking day for the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta, with the province setting highs for new cases, active infections and hospitalizations.

AG: Charges not warranted for former Michigan State basketball player accused of sex assault

The Michigan Attorney General's Office said it thoroughly reviewed the allegations against Brock Washington and didn't find grounds to bring charges. "Following an in-depth review and consideration of the evidence, the Attorney General’s office has decided not to file charges against Brock Washington, who was a Michigan State University student and athlete when he was accused of sexual misconduct," AG spokesperson Ryan Jarvi said in an email to the Lansing State Journal.

Alberta recorded 622 new novel coronavirus cases Friday, the largest single-day jump to date. The province’s previous high came on Oct. 24, when 575 cases were reported.

Read more .

622 new cases, five deaths

It's another record-setting #COVID19AB day across the board.

New Alberta records set for:

-new cases (622)

-active cases (5,172; first time above 5,000)

-positive rate since April (4.8%)

-hospital admissions (140)

-ICU admissions (25)#COVID19AB #yyc #yeg

— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) October 30, 2020

I'm told the #yyc outbreak at Peter Lougheed Centre mentioned above is only linked to a single case.#COVID19AB

— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) October 30, 2020

Active cases by zone (change from yesterday):

Edmonton zone: 2,312 (+35)

Calgary zone: 2,034 (+155)

North zone: 353 (+28)

South zone: 276 (+20)

Central zone: 178 (+16)

Unknown zone: 19 (-3)#COVID19AB #yyc #yeg

— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) October 30, 2020

Inmates with COVID-19 symptoms in Calgary jail allowed to mix with asymptomatic ones, union alleges

© Provided by Calgary Herald The Calgary Correctional Centre in 2017.

The union representing Alberta jail workers says the COVID-19 outbreak at the Calgary Correctional Centre has been badly mismanaged, with basic public-health measures neglected even as cases spread.

Kanye West's Most Extravagant Gifts for Kim Kardashian

Kanye West's Most Extravagant Gifts for Kim Kardashian

There are now 132 cases at the jail, located on Calgary’s northwest outskirts. But Alberta Union of Provincial Employees vice-president Bobby-Joe Borodey said the outbreak could have been mitigated with more clear direction and better adherence to health measures.

Read more .

Glenbow Museum temporarily closing after staff member tests positive

© Courtesy, Glenbow Museum Exterior of the Glenbow Museum in downtown Calgary.

The Glenbow will be closing its doors until Nov. 14 due to a case of COVID-19 in a staff member.

In an email, the museum said the staff member was “non-public-facing” but they have decided to close the facility for a deep clean out of an abundance of caution.

Glenbow’s All Access Week has been rescheduled to be held Nov. 14- 22.

During that week, admission to the museum is free thanks to a donation from Servus Credit Union. However, patrons will still need to obtain timed tickets online.

Blood Tribe reports positive case at reserve school

A single case of COVID-19 has been reported at a school on the Blood Tribe reserve.

The report of the Covid-19 pandemic at 11:00 GMT

© Provided by Le Point The pandemic of the new coronavirus has killed at least 1,201,450 people worldwide since the WHO office in China reported of the onset of the disease at the end of December, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Monday at 11:00 GMT. More than 46,543,100 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed since the start of the epidemic, of which at least 30,903,200 are now considered cured.

The Blood Tribe Emergency Management Team received a notification from the Kainai Board of Education about a case at Tatsikiisaapo’p Middle School, near Cardston.

The school had already been scheduled to be closed today.

Indigenous Services Canada – First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and Blood Tribe Emergency Management are taking steps to contain the virus and support the individual, according to a release form the Blood Tribe.

The tribe reported the death of one elder to the virus in June.

Second wave will be ‘weeks and months’ of limiting contacts, but Trudeau says ‘blunt’ lockdowns unnecessary

© Blair Gable/Reuters/File Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Canadians are being urged yet again to limit their contacts with other humans to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19. But while the second wave will require “weeks and months” of sacrifice, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed to be ruling out any repeat of the nationwide spring shutdown.

According to the latest federal modelling data, confirmed cases in Canada could exceed 8,000 daily by December if people maintain their current rate of contact with others. Expose themselves to more people, the pandemic will resurge even “faster and stronger.”

Read more .

Yukon health officer reports first COVID-19 death

Yukon flag

Yukon has reported its first death from COVID-19 after an outbreak in the small community of Watson Lake.

Coronavirus: Canada adds 66 more COVID-19 deaths as cases top 244,000

A further 203,509 patients have since recovered from the virus while over 11.9 million tests have been administered. Video: Canada is nowhere near herd immunity to the coronavirus as second wave surges: Tam Tuesday's cases come amid newly released restrictions for travellers flying into the country. According to new rules from the Public Health Agency of Canada, anyone entering the country by air as of Nov. 21 will be mandated to submit both a quarantine plan and a COVID-19 "self-assessment" before hopping on a flight.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Brendan Hanley said Friday the person who died was “older” and had underlying health conditions. The person died at home on Thursday after showing signs of recovery about two weeks after being infected.

Read more .

Bars, restaurants ordered to close in Winnipeg as COVID-19 cases soar

© Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/Postmedia A group of people wearing masks prepares to board a bus in downtown Winnipeg on Thurs., Oct. 29, 2020.

The Manitoba government is ordering many businesses to close, limiting hospital visits and capping attendance at religious services after a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases.

The province reported 480 new infections Friday. That is more than double the previous daily record, although health officials said many of the cases were delayed data collection from earlier in the week.

Read more .

Online poll results: Slight majority not letting their kids trick or treat

Yesterday we asked readers in our online poll if they would be letting their kids head out on Halloween night in search of goodies.

Of those who have kids, more say they plan to keep them home this Saturday night.

© Provided by Calgary Herald

Study suggests some people never exposed to virus have some antibodies

© Arlen Redekop/Postmedia/File Experts asked for volunteers to submit to “seroprevalance” testing — designed to tell if someone has been exposed to a virus — in May and June. They enrolled 276 people, mostly health-care workers. Of those, just three had antibodies.

When researchers in British Columbia tested for antibodies in a small sample of Vancouver residents earlier this year, they found that less than one per cent had definitely been exposed to COVID-19.

Bigger, wider and more politicized: Alberta's 2nd surge of COVID-19 has arrived

In Alberta, the novelty of the novel coronavirus has worn off. Back in the spring, the threat was new and unknown. Provincial leaders acted accordingly, with an abundance of caution. Seeing what was likely coming, they cancelled in-person classes across Alberta with just 56 reported cases of the disease. By late March, with the province recording 56 new cases per day, non-essential businesses were forced to close and gatherings were restricted to a maximum of 15 people, including in churches and private homes. At the same time, Premier Jason Kenney gave police new powers to enforce public-health orders. In April, the premier convened a special, televised address.

That was little surprise, especially at a time when the virus was not spreading widely in the city. But when the scientists delved further, their conclusions were striking.

Large proportions of people who seemingly had never come in contact with the coronavirus, they said, had antibodies that reacted to parts of the bug — that recognized some of the “antigens” in SARS-CoV-2 that switch on a body’s immune system.

Read more .

‘Cancellation pushback’: If authorities keep ruling out the holidays, people will stop listening

© Peter J. Thompson/National Post Christmas decorations being set up outside of Hudson’s Bay flagship store in Toronto on Oct. 29. The current COVID outlook doesn’t promise a huge number of good times ahead.

Psychologist Baruch Fischhoff is considered a giant in the field of risk communication and decision-making.

When asked for his quick analysis of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s somewhat un-prime-ministerial assessment this week that the COVID-19 pandemic “really sucks,” and that unless people are “really, really careful” usual holiday gatherings might be off the table, Fischhoff offered that, for people predisposed to the PM, “it probably speaks to their heart that he’s really worried and he’s willing to kind of let his professional guard down.”

Too often COVID risk communications have been chaotic, don’t recognize the diversity of situations people are in, and are too focused on rules, Fischoff said — “’thou shalt X’ without giving people a mental model of why that is true.

Read more .

‘Eat out to help out’ offer contributed to UK second COVID wave: study

© John Bunner A study in the UK found COVID cases ticked upward when the government gave people financial incentives to order takeout to help the restaurant industry.

The British government’s “Eat out to help out” discount scheme to boost spending at restaurants, cafes and pubs over the summer helped spread the coronavirus and contributed to a second wave of infections, according to a new study.

Canada adds record 4,060 new coronavirus cases, 32 deaths Sunday

Sunday marked the first time the daily total of new COVID-19 cases in Canada exceeded 4,000. The data released is incomplete, however, as British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Canada's three territories did not provide updates through the weekend. In Quebec, 114,820 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 — almost half of the country's confirmed infections.

For the month of August, the government offered diners up a 50% discount of up to 10 pounds ($13.03) per head on meals between Mondays and Wednesdays to kick-start the economy and encourage people to spend money again after the pandemic lockdown.

Between 8% and 17% of newly detected infection clusters could be linked to the scheme during that period, according to the study by the University of Warwick. Areas where there was a high uptake of the scheme saw an increase in new infections about a week after it started, the study found.

Read more .

Alberta updates symptom checklist for students

© Azin Ghaffari Pictured is a classroom in Henry Wise Wood High School that could accommodate a cohort of up to 38 students on Friday, August 28, 2020.

Alberta is providing new guidance for parents checking for COVID-19 symptoms before school each morning.

Currently, students are asked to stay home and monitor for 24 hours when they have one of the non-core COVID-19 symptoms of chills, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, muscle/joint aches, or headache. Starting Monday, the government will be removing runny nose and sore throat from the list of symptoms that require mandatory isolation for school-aged children.

“Based on our data so far, the risk of a child with just one of these symptoms has COVID is even lower if that child is not known to be a close contact of someone with COVID-19,” Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday, emphasizing that this new checklist only applies to those with no known exposure to COVID-19.

Also starting Monday, children with only one of the non-core symptoms should still stay home and monitor for 24 hours, but if they improve, testing is not necessary and they can return to normal activities. If they have two or more symptoms, however, they should stay home until the symptoms improve or they test negative for COVID-19.

Those with any of the “core isolation symptoms” of cough, fever, shortness of breath or loss of taste or smell must still isolate for 10 days or have a negative test result and resolved symptoms to resume activities, Hinshaw noted.

Hinshaw said the change comes after monitoring guidance in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec. Those provinces updated their symptom checklists and have not seen an increase in COVID-19 transmission in schools, she said.

There are 11 Calgary schools still under the province’s “watch” status with five or more cases of COVID-19.

Calgary school Clarence Sansom School left “watch” status on Wednesday, while the faith-based Khalsa School in nearby Conrich went under “watch.”

Clarence Sansom School had been under watch since Oct. 7.

There were five other schools added to the list this week: Sir Winston Churchill High School on Tuesday and Calgary French & International School, St. Francis High School, Bishop McNally High School and New Heights School and Learning Services on Monday.

Lester B. Pearson High School, Nelson Mandela High School, Canyon Meadows School, Ecole de la Rose Sauvage and John G. Diefenbaker High School are still on the watch list.

There are 16 Calgary schools dealing with outbreaks of two to four cases.

Since the beginning of the school year, at least 133 schools in the Calgary area have reported at least one case of COVID-19 according to Support Our Students’ COVID-19 tracker . Of those, 68 have reported a case in the last two weeks.

© Provided by Calgary Herald

Thursday

Conservative legal group challenges new COVID restrictions on group gatherings in Alberta

© National Post file Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms founder John Carpay: “We’re publicly objecting to new restrictions on Charter freedom to associate.”

A conservative legal group is challenging new restrictions on gatherings in Alberta, saying they are a violation of Charter rights to assembly. The province implemented the group gathering restrictions this week as it faces record-breaking numbers of new COVID-19 cases.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, headed by lawyer John Carpay, has been involved in a number of high-profile cases over the years and has recently taken up a number of anti-COVID-restriction causes.

Read more .

Thursday

AHS orders bar closed after violations of COVID rules

© Google The Potion Room was ordered closed by AHS for COVID restriction violations.

Alberta Health Services issued a temporary closure order for a bar located in Inglewood last Friday.

An inspector checking out The Potion Room located at 1211 9 Avenue S.E. found multiple dining parties seated less than 2 metres apart and patrons moving between tables.

The inspector also found cleaning solutions completely lacking bleach, or with minimal amounts of bleach.

The notice of closure ordered the owner to rearrange tables, obtain a proper cleaning solution and to file a written plan on how the establishment will operate with mitigation measures for the pandemic.

Thursday

118 cases linked to outbreak at Calgary Correctional Centre

30 more inmates have tested positive since yesterday.

AHS said this is largely because all previously negative inmates were retested Tuesday.

The inmates are isolating in the jail, except for six, who are at home after completing their court-mandated sentences.#COVID19AB #yyc

— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) October 29, 2020

Thursday

477 new cases, five deaths

Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 477 new cases on 12,153 tests
• Five deaths; 318 total
• 130 in hospital; 18 in ICUs
• 4,921 active cases in Alberta
• 153 schools in Alberta the previously had alerts or outbreaks are now back in class and off the list
• 249 schools have active alerts or outbreaks, 10% of schools in Alberta; 730 cases in those schools
• 111 schools with outbreaks of two or more cases; 35 on watch list
• In-school transmission has occurred in 87 schools; 39 schools have had multiple cases of in-school transmission

"Based on our data so far, the risk of a child with just one of these symptoms has COVID is even lower if that child is not know to be a close contact of someone with COVID-19," Hinshaw said. She emphasizes the change is only for those who have not had a known exposure #COVID19AB

— Jon Roe (@theJonRoe) October 29, 2020

For other symptoms, starting Monday, if a child only has one of the other non-core symptoms, they should stay home and monitor for 24 hours. If they improve after 24 hours, testing is not necessary and they can return to normal activities, Hinshaw says. #COVID19AB

— Jon Roe (@theJonRoe) October 29, 2020

You can watch the full update below.