ST. PAUL - Alberta Health Services provided a comment today regarding a mix-up last week that resulted in confusion for some staff and students at Glen Avon School.
On Nov. 3, St. Paul Education sent out a letter saying the division learned an individual from the school had tested positive for COVID-19. Out of precaution, close contacts were notified and directed to isolate. On Nov. 5, AHS contacted St. Paul Education and said the case was not positive, which lead to staff and students being allowed to attend school on Friday.
Then, later in the day on Friday, AHS again contacted St. Paul Education saying the case was positive all along.
LakelandToday reached out to AHS for comment on what occurred.
“AHS always works closely with our federal partners to conduct testing in Indigenous communities, prioritizing those in rural, remote and isolated communities, including Saddle Lake,” reads a statement from AHS, received by email on Monday.
“AHS also follows up on any concerns about results. In this case, AHS has been in contact with this family and we have apologized for the data entry error, which has since been resolved. Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot provide any further specific details about this case.”
St. Paul Education Superintendent Glen Brodziak voiced his concern about the situation in a letter sent out on Friday, saying, "As the superintendent, I am asking AHS how this could possibly have happened and what will be put in place to ensure that this does not occur again."
A second case of the virus was confirmed at Glen Avon School over the weekend, which means AHS has declared an outbreak at the school.
“As per AHS (Alberta Health Services), an outbreak is declared when there are two or more cases in a school setting within a 14-day period,” said Brodziak, when asked for comment on the issue. The outbreak will be declared over after 28 days with no cases, and the medical officers of health will work with schools to declare an end.
Monday's numbers
The St. Paul (Saddle Lake and surrounding St. Paul County) now has 71 active cases of COVID-19, according to the local geographic area provincial map. Saddle Lake reported 57 active cases on Sunday.
The Bonnyville region has 21 active cases, as of Monday's updated numbers. The Cold Lake region is down to seven active cases.
The Lac La Biche region is up to five active cases, which is the most that region has seen since the pandemic began.
Over the last 24 hours, 644 new cases were identified across the province. There are 192 people in hospital due to the virus, and 39 in intensive care.
