COVID-19 Outbreak at Vegreville Care Centre
Rosanne Fortier
News Correspondent
Alberta Health Services, (AHS) has publicly declared an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Vegreville Care Centre.
Tracy Kennedy, Senior Communications Advisor for AHS Central Zone, said the outbreak was declared at the Vegreville Care Centre which is operated by AHS on November 30.
Kennedy said, “There are two cases of COVID-19 as of December 18. The cases are from the staff. No residents have tested positive for COVID-19 at this time.”
She pointed out, “Locations of outbreaks in acute care and continuing care facilities are reported publicly when there are two or more cases indicating that a transmission within the facility has occurred. Outbreaks are declared over when four weeks have passed with no new cases, so not all outbreaks listed necessarily have current transmission happening.
Kennedy went on to say, “We continue to closely monitor the situation and the site manager will continue to make sure the necessary enhanced safety protocols are in place to protect residents and staff. This includes regular follow-up meetings to help address any concerns that arise. Some measures are enhanced protocols including continuous masking by staff, enhanced cleaning as well as daily screening and COVID-19 testing of staff and residents.
Additional temporary measures have been enacted to help limit the spread of infection. These measures include isolating all residents to their rooms as of November 30, temporarily closing the site to new admissions, postponing patient transfers, and restricting visitors where no visitors are allowed except for essential visitors of palliative residents.