AHS investigating COVID-19 outbreak at SE Calgary storage warehouse
Posted May 8, 2020 7:32 pm.
Last Updated May 9, 2020 4:52 am.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – There have been 21 positive COVID-19 cases found at APS Warehouse in Calgary, located just off 52nd Street S.E.
The outbreak was declared on May 2.
An inspection of the facility has been done, and AHS has made recommendations on social distancing, enhanced cleaning, infection prevention, control measures as well as staff wellness screenings.
The facility is still open.
An outbreak was also uncovered at Canada Post’s main plant near Calgary International Airport.
Six positive cases were found.
During Friday’s provincial daily COVID-19 update, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw spoke about outbreaks at worksites.
“What happens in any kind of worksite outbreak is the cases are identified, they are asked questions about when they started to have symptoms then the contract tracers determine what the time frame was when they could have passed that infection to others.”
“Anyone who is a close contact of that person would be required to be home in self-isolation for 14 days from that point of last contact,” said Hinshaw.
“In the last month, we informed Alberta Public Health about six positive cases at our main processing facility in Calgary, located at 1100 49th Ave. N.E. These occurred at separate times over a three week period dating back to April 20,” Canada Post said in a statement.
Canada Post says some of the employees have not been in the building since early April.
“In working with Alberta Public Health, they’ve informed us they do not believe these cases occurred in the workplace but rather that exposure occurred externally, and all cases were unrelated. The employees were also showing no symptoms when last in the workplace.”
Any employee affected by COVID-19 is given paid leave, and Canada Post says they will continue to keep working with AHS.
