10 dead of COVID-19 at Edmonton care facility

EDMONTON • An Edmonton long-term care home coping with a COVID-19 outbreak has lost 10 residents to the virus.

Alberta Health Services said Wednesday that South Terrace Continuing Care Centre, which is owned and operated by Revera, has had 66 cases among residents and has 66 active staff cases.

The numbers were among 8,090 active cases — including 3,255 in Edmonton — reported Tuesday in Alberta.

A total of 376 Albertans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic started.

No one from Revera returned a request for comment Wednesday, but the company told CBC there are 90 residents in the home.

Revera also owns a Winnipeg care home that called paramedics on the weekend to deal with a crisis of sick and dying patients during a COVID-19 outbreak.

The company initially said there were 13 of the normally scheduled 19 healthcare aides working the evening shift on Friday, but the Winnipeg Health Authority determined that seven people were working in the 200-bed facility.

Revera, which operates long-term care homes across Canada, said the erroneous information was a mistake.

Susan Slade, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, said she doesn't want to see a similar situation at the Edmonton care home.

“We are monitoring it very closely,” she said Wednesday.

Slade said a total of 70 staff at South Terrace have contracted COVID-19 and four have recovered in the last few weeks.

The union, she said, is offering support to the 146 health-care aides and other support staff who work there.