Albertans In Contact With A COVID-19 Variant Case Now Have To Isolate For 24 Days

There are 57 COVID-19 variant cases in the province now.
Contributor

On Tuesday, February 2, Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided an Alberta COVID-19 update to the public. 

The top doctor noted that 57 COVID-19 variant cases have been detected in the province. 

Editor's Choice: Justin Trudeau & Kamala Harris Had A Phone Call Today & Chatted About Montreal

If cases choose to stay home during their isolation period, their household contacts will now need to stay at home as well [...] for a total of 24 days. Dr. Hinshaw

The health official said that the number of variant cases is as high as it is on account of "the excellent work of our lab to expand variant testing quickly, and to the border pilot program, which has detected 28 of our variant cases."

The 57 cases include 50 of the variant first detected in the U.K. and seven of the one that was first found in South Africa

Hinshaw says that the enhanced isolation measures for contacts of variant cases are necessary to prevent community spread "given how easily this variant is spreading in homes."

Of the 57 variant cases, eight of them have no currently identified links to travel.

Though, Hinshaw did note that four of the cases are linked to a daycare outbreak. 

  • Britanny Burr was a Staff Writer at Narcity Canada, who drove growth within Narcity's Western coverage and readership. Having lived between her hometown, Canmore, Alberta and Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, and NYC over the past 10 years, she is obsessed with finding the best local hot spots. She holds a B.A. in English and has over six years of professional writing experience as Head Writer and Editor for YUL.Buzz in Montreal, and Creative Copywriter at JAKT in NYC. News by day, poetry by night — the written word is Britanny's nearest and dearest.

Canadians had no known hantavirus contact

No Canadians had known direct contact with hantavirus on ship: B.C. health official

Unclear if hantavirus tests always useful: experts

Hantavirus testing might not be useful for people without symptoms: experts

Hantavirus Q-and-A with Ontario's Dr. Moore

Hantavirus questions and answers with Ontario's chief medical officer of health

Number of Canadians linked to hantavirus outbreak grows to 10

Number of Canadians connected to hantavirus outbreak grows to 10, all asymptomatic

Canada's summer forecast says most places will be warmer than normal except for these spots

Some parts of the country will get "widespread heat" this summer.

MP calls on Canadians to fill out census

MP calls on Canadians to fill out census as some express privacy concerns