While the province is confirming that the Lac La Biche County region has one reported death due to the COVID-19 respiratory virus — the first reported in the Lakeland area since the pandemic began — specifics about the person, including their age, are not being released.
On Thursday, there were reports the victim was a man between the ages of 30 and 39 — but those specifics have not been confirmed by Alberta Health or Alberta Health Services staff.
"AHS does not provide information on individual cases for privacy and patient confidentiality reasons," AHS North Zone Communications Director Shelly Willsey told Lakeland This Week on Friday. "All case-geographic information is provided by the Government of Alberta."
Two maps, different results
That case-geographic information on one version of an online provincial COVID map from Thursday confirms one death in the "Local Geographic Area" (LGA) around Lac La Biche. The map's index says the LGA includes Lac La Biche County, a northwest portion of Smoky Lake County and the neighbouring industrial jurisdiction of Improvement District 349. A similar map on the same COVID-19 website breaks the province into "Municipal Areas". That map shows "Lac La Biche County" with only two active cases of the virus and no deaths. However, areas of that same map, highlighted around the hamlets of Lac La Biche and Plamondon report 68 current active cases and one death.
Neither the province nor AHS COVID websites have data that links age ranges to reported deaths in specific municipalities.
On Friday, another page on the province's COVID website shows only two deaths reported over the last week in the entire "North Zone" of the province that includes municipalities from Grande Prairie to Fort McMurray and through the Lac La Biche area. In both of those reported cases, the victims were in the 80-and-over category.
Saddened by loss
The specific age or gender of the case doesn't matter to Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi.
"One death, any death, is one death too many," he said, on Friday, offering sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person on behalf of the municipality.
The first confirmed death of a community resident that has been attributed to the global pandemic is sobering and sad news, says the mayor — regardless of who the victim is.
"It's a father, a son, a mother, sister, daughter, a friend ... we don't have to know who it is, we just know it's a death, and that is one too many," he told Lakelandtoday.ca.
According to information on the provincial COVID website on Friday, of the 590 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the province to date, only four have been between the ages of 30 and 39. As of Friday, 87 per cent of the province's total COVID death toll has been attributed to residents over the age of 70. Of those mortality statistics, more than 75 per per cent were also afflicted with at least three pre-existing conditions like hypertension, diabetes, cancer or immuno-deficiency disorders prior to contracting the virus. Only two per cent of those who have died as a result of the virus have had no pre-existing conditions.
Working together
Although the news comes just days after Lac La Biche County council narrowly voted down a community-wide mask mandate, Moghrabi says the recent death shows that the virus doesn't care about political barriers or differing opinions. While the recent news may re-ingnite the mask issue in the community, he is more concerned for the overall health of residents. Watching the number of active cases jump from a handful to more than 70 in just a few weeks, Moghrabi fears the continuing trend.
"We all have to work together, to come together and move forward as we think about the future and where this trend is going," he said, directing his plea not just to local residents, but all people. "We all need to get together and do this together."
Whether its mask wearing, practicing social distancing, adhering to social gathering rules, the mayor says a little bit of discomfort in the short-term can bring big results in the future.
"I see it as a challenge going out to everyone to do the best they can to help reduce the spread. It's a bit of pain for some people who might not want to wear a mask, let's say, but it can bring a lot of gain for everyone," he said.
