Hat’s mayor watching Brooks COVID outbreak very closely

Mayor Ted Clugston says hundreds of people travel back and forth to Brooks on a daily basis and the city is carefully watching the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in that city.

At this stage there is no plan to ask those individuals to stop their daily commute and it would be Alberta Health Services that would take the lead on that, he said.

“I don’t think we’re at that point yet but I’m not ruling that out,” said Clugston.

The City of Medicine Hat is working closely with Brooks and AHS to learn from the breakout there and understand what measures to take here if numbers increase.

On Tuesday afternoon Brooks had 157 cases and by Thursday afternoon it had jumped to 311.

The total number of cases for the south zone had reached 359 by Thursday afternoon and the first deaths in the zone were reported.

To put these numbers in perspective, Clugston notes Brooks has a population of about 15,000 and Medicine Hat about 63,000. Medicine Hat has had 20 positive cases so we are nowhere near the level in Brooks. If we were dealing with a situation like Brooks it would be the equivalent of 1,250 positive cases here.

Clugston is aware Medicine Hat Regional Hospital will be accepting patients from Brooks, particularly as Brooks has no ICU. Some cases may be transferred to Calgary hospitals.

The Hat is looking at additional measures to ensure selfisolation can take place if numbers increase here. This would probably include using hotels.

Ted Clugston