CURRENT SITUATION UPDATE – MAY 30-31, 2020

I have combined information from press conferences, news releases and other sources since the last Update.Anything in green text is an update on something from the last one I sent out or on an outbreak. Anything bracketed in [bold and italic]s are my comments. 

If you would like to see anything that I sent out previously, or have a question on a particular topic, please ask me and I will be pleased to send to you whatever I have. 

If anyone has anything helpful to add, please send it to me and I will include it.

Linda

(Click here to send Linda an email)

• Potential Treatments 
• Around the World
• Canada
• Other Provinces
• Alberta
• Good News Stories

POTENTIAL TREATMENTS/TESTS

–WORLD NEWS–

Protests Spread Through US 

            The non-violent protests due to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis have spread throughout the US, and even to London in the UK. 

            The officer responsible for his death has been charged with murder and manslaughter. All 4 officers involved were fired; more charges are being considered. 

             Unfortunately, the protests in many of the US cities have been marred by night-time violence, including people torching buildings, police cars, smashing windows, looting, and other violence. 

            States are bringing in the National Guard to act as a buffer between protestors and police, and to prevent further violence. 

            Authorities as well as citizens have turned out during the day to clean up the aftermath of the violence. 

            Authorities in the US are worried that the lack of physical distancing and observance of hygiene guidelines will lead to a surge in cases. 

World wide  6,263,911 cases; 373,899 deaths;  2,846,713 recoveries

Just to keep this in perspective: 

• flu affects 1 billion people and causes 291,000 to 646,000 deaths worldwide (source: Johns Hopkins Medicine)
• The Spanish flu affected 1/3 of the people in the world at the time and killed between 50-100 million people. 

Around the World 

COVID-19 affects 213 countries and territories around the world. 

Brazil

• Brazil has 514,992 cases and 29,341 deaths, 206,555 have recovered.. 
• Brazil is the 2nd highest in the world, behind only the US. It has moved up to 4^thin death toll, but these are likely still underreported. 

Britain

• Britain now has 274,762 cases and 38,489 deaths. There is no information on recoveries.
• UK is still the 5th highest in cases and the 2^nd highest in total deaths. 
• UK has the 3^rd highest deaths per million people – 567 per million, behind Belgium and Spain.
• From Monday, in England, up to 6 people from different households will be able to meet outdoors, some schools will restart, elite competitive sport can resume without spectators and more than 2 million people who have been “shielding” will be allowed to spend time outdoors. 
• England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jennie Harries, emphasized the need for people to remain on their guard. 
• On Sunday, the government said it had met 200,000 capacity testing target, including the means for 40,000 antibody tests a day.  

Chile

• Chile’s cases are increasing, as are many other South American nations. 
• Chile is now reporting 99,688 cases, but so far the death toll is low at 1,054; 42,727 have recovered. 

France

• France has 188,882 cases and 28,802 deaths, 68,355 people have recovered.
• France is 8^th in overall cases, and 5^th in total deaths as well as 5th in deaths per million – 441 per million

Germany

• Germany has 183,494 cases with 8,605 deaths, 165,200 people have recovered. 
• Germany is 9^th in overall cases, but its death toll is much lower than other countries with high case numbers.

India

• India now has 190,609 cases and 5,408 deaths, with 91,852 recoveries.
• India has moved up to 7^th in overall cases.  

Italy

• Italy is now reporting 232,997 cases and 33,415 deaths, 157,507 people have recovered.
• Italy is 6^th in overall case numbers, and 3rd in total deaths.  
• Italy still has the 4^rd highest deaths per million people – 553 per million, behind Belgium  and UK.

Iran

• Iran’s cases are still increasing. It now has 151,466 cases, and 7,797 deaths; 118,848 have recovered.
• Iran is now 12^th in number of cases. 

Israel

• Israel is reporting 17,071 cases, with 285 deaths; 14,812 have recovered.
• The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Israel’s holiest site outside of Saudi Arabia, also reopened for prayers since it was closed in mid-March. Throngs waited outside before it opened early Sunday, with many wearing surgical masks. The mosque was one of Jerusalem’s many holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall, where access was restricted due to the virus. Jews also resumed their pilgrimages Sunday to the Temple Mount. 

Mexico

• Mexico is experiencing continued increase in cases. They are now reporting 90,664 (an increase in 3,152 today), with 9,930 deaths; 64,326 have recovered.

Peru

• Peru’s number of cases is increasing considerably. It is up to 164,476 cases, and 4,506 deaths; 67,208 have recovered.
• The number of cases is due to Its proximity to Brazil which is South America’s hotspot.
• It has risen to 10^th highest cases in the world. 

Russia

• Russia’s cases continue to climb but it remains third in cases behind only the US and Brazil. Russia has 514,992 cases, 4,693 deaths and 171,883 are reported as recovered.

Saudi Arabia

• Saudi Arabia reports 85,261 cases, and only 503 deaths. 64,326 have recovered.
• Tens of thousands of mosques across Saudi Arabia reopened Sunday for the first time in more than two months, with worshippers ordered to follow strict guidelines to prevent virus spread. Children under 15 years old were not being allowed inside mosques, as well as the elderly and those with chronic conditions. People were advise to perform the mandatory ablution at home, to use sanitizers and to bring their own prayer rugs and copies of the Qur’an. 
• Islam’s holiest site in Mecca remained closed to the public. The mosque in Medina will be partially opened to the public to pray outside. 
• The government prepared for the reopening of around 90,000 mosques after sanitizing prayer rugs, washrooms and shelves. 
• Also on Sunday, Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on domestic air travel and permitted some public sector workers to resume office work again, though full attendance will not be allowed till mid-June.

Spain

• Spain is reporting 286,509 cases and 27,127 deaths, 196,958 people have recovered.
• Spain is now the 4^th highest in cases behind the US, Brazil and Russia, and 6^th in deaths behind US, UK, Italy, Brazil, and France.
• However, Spain is the 2^nd  highest in deaths per million population – 580 per million people, behind only Belgium. 

Turkey

• Turkey is reporting 163,942, and 4,540 deaths; 127,973 have recovered.
• Turkey has dropped to the 11^th highest in number of cases. 

United States

• The US now has 1,836,170 cases and 106,195 deaths, 599,867 have recovered.
• US deaths are 321 per million people, 9^th behind Belgium, Spain, Italy, UK, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Ireland. 

Canada  

• Confirmed cases         90,936
• Probable cases                    11
• Deaths                          7,295
• Recoveries                  48,573
• No. of Tests:          1,655,831

Areas in Canada with cases of COVID-19 as of MAY 30-31, 5:00 pm MDT

• Province, territory or other                    Confirmed        Probable       Deaths   Recovered
  • British Columbia                                     2,573                   0             164           2,181
  • Alberta                                                      7,010                   0             143           6,245
  • Saskatchewan                                              646                   0               11            5680
  • Manitoba                                                     284                 11                 7              278
  • Ontario                                                    27,859                   0           2,266         21,810
  • Quebec                                                    51,059                   0          4,641         16,070
  • New Brunswick                                          132                   0                 0              120
  • Nova Scotia                                               1,056                   0               60              978
  • Prince Edward Island                                  27                   0                 0                27
  • Newfoundland and Labrador                  261                   0                 3              255
  • Yukon                                                             11                   0                 0                11
  • Northwest Territories                                   5                   0                 0                  5
  • Nunavut                                                          0                   0                 0                  0
  • Repatriated travellers                                 13                   0                 0     Unknown

Up-to-date information is available at Canada.ca/COVID-19

–Canadian News –

–Prime Minister Trudeau Announcements—

          The Prime Minister is promising funds for traveling at home. 

–OTHER CANADIAN NEWS—

Provinces

British Columbia

• British Columbia schools are due to start on Monday. Schools will have consistent procedures for site access, cleaning and hygiene and physical distancing. 
• Schools are opening on an optional basis, leaving it up to families to decide whether they want to go to school or to continue learning from home. 
• For most student in K-5, they will be attending half-time, such as alternating days. 
• Grades 6-12 will go to school about one day a week.
• About 5,000 students are already in classrooms, mostly children of essential workers and those who needed extra support. 
• Some districts surveyed families to see if they planned to send their kids back to school and the results varied from a high of 90% and a low of 15%. 
• About 1 in 10 teachers will keep working from home due to higher vulnerability to COVID-19. 

New Brunswick

• New Brunswick’s Campbelltown outbreak which started when a doctor visited Quebec and did not self-isolate when he returned now has 12 confirmed cases.  

Ontario

• New case numbers have dropped for the last couple of days. . 
• Premier Doug Ford has said he is open to a regional approach to reopening the economy. The increased testing may make it possible to open up some regions before others. 
• Some people are saying they are getting mixed messages from different officials which makes it confusing to know what they are supposed to be doing. 
• Ontario allowed drive-in movie theatres to open today.   
• Backcountry camping will resume under physical distancing measures that limit the number of people who can gather, 

Alberta

MAY 30-31, 2020, 5:15 p.m.

–ALBERTA NEWS –

National Parks Opening

            The 5 national parks in Alberta will be opening on Monday, June 1. Not all services will be available, and not all businesses will  be opening at the same time. If you plan to travel, phone ahead to make sure you can visit the businesses and activities you would like. Communities are asking that visitors bring their own masks.  

–Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw–

Case updates

Cases are continuing to go down. There were 13 new cases yesterday and 18 new cases today. 52 are in hospital with 6 in intensive care. There was one new death yesterday, a man in his 80s from Intercare Brentwood in Calgary. There were no deaths today. 6,283 Albertans have recovered.  There are only 584 active cases in Alberta today. 

Latest updates

• 18 new cases have been reported, bringing the number of active cases to 584.  6,283 people have recovered.
• Cases have been identified in all zones across the province: 
• 440 active cases and 4,330 recovered cases in the Calgary zone
• 42 active cases and 1,184 recovered cases in the South zone
• 69 active cases and 464 recovered cases in the Edmonton zone
• 28 active cases and 202 recovered cases in the North zone
• 2 active cases and 95 recovered cases in the Central zone
• 3 active cases and 8 recovered cases in zones yet to be confirmed
• Additional information, including the total number of cases, is reported online.
• There have been 658 cases to date with an unknown exposure.
• The total deaths are 143: 104 in the Calgary zone; 16 in the North zone; 13 in the Edmonton zone; 9 in the South zone; and one in the Central zone.  Although one additional person died yesterday, a death that had been attributed to COVID-19 was from other causes.
• There are 61 active cases and 659 recovered cases at continuing care facilities. 109 residents at these facilities have died.
• So far, 253,415 Albertans have been tested and labs have performed 260,365 tests, with 3,138 tests completed in the last 24 hours.
• Any individual exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, including cough, fever, runny nose, sore throat or shortness of breath, is eligible for testing. People can access testing by completing the COVID-19 self-assessment online. A separate self-assessment tool is available for health-care and shelter workers, enforcement and first responders. 
• Aggregate data, showing cases by age range and zone, as well as by local geographic areas, is available online at alberta.ca/covid19statistics.

 (Central zone and areas around Calgary includes:

• Ponoka County – 3 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 3 recovered
• City of Camrose – 2 cases, 0 active, 1 death, 1 recovered
• County of Camrose – 1 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 1 recovered
• Red Deer – 37 cases; 1 active, 0 deaths, 36 recovered
• City of Lacombe – 2 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 2 recovered
• County of Lacombe – 3 cases; 0 active, 0 deaths; 3 recovered
• County of Stettler – 2 cases, 0 active, 0 death; 2 recovered
• Red Deer County – 15 cases, 1 active, 0 deaths, 14 recovered
• Clearwater County – 2 cases; 0 active, 0 deaths; 2 recovered
• Mountain View County – 9 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 9 recovered
• Kneehill County – 4 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths; 4 recovered
• MD of Bighorn – 18 cases; 0 active, 0 deaths; 18 recovered
• MD of Rockyview – 44 cases; 3 active, 0 deaths; 41 recovered
• Wheatland County – 10 cases; 1 active, 0 deaths; 9 recovered
• ID No. 9 (Banff & Canmore) – 4 cases; 1 active, 0 deaths; 3 recovered
• Foothills County – 726 cases, 22 active, 8 deaths; 696 recovered
• City of Airdrie – 47 cases, 1 active, 1 deaths, 15 recovered
• City of Calgary – 3972 cases;  408 active, 95 deaths; 3469 recovered
• City of Brooks – 1096 cases, 20 active, 8 deaths, 1068 recovered
• County of Newell – 15 cases, 1 active, 0 deaths; 14 recovered
• Special Areas No. 2 – 2 cases; 0 active, 1 death; 1 recovered

I am including smaller towns within counties, where I can get the information.  The total of each smaller town is also included in the country total. If there is a town I have not included that you would like to see, please let me know and I will see if I can get that info. Sometimes more than 1 town is lumped in together or not separated from the county figures – for example, Penhold, Blackfalds and the area around Red Deer is included in Red Deer County figures. 

• Black Diamond – 29 cases, 3 active, 0 deaths, 26 recovered
• Canmore – 18 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 18 recovered
• Cochrane-Springbank – 21 cases, 2 active, 0 deaths, 19 recovered
• Crossfield – 6 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 6 recovered
• Chestermere – 32 cases, 3 active, 0 deaths, 29 recovered
• Didsbury/Carstairs – 5 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 5 recovered
• Drumheller – 2 cases, 2 active
• High River – 537 cases, 11 active, 7 deaths, 519 recovered
• Innisfail/Bowden – 1 case, 0 active, 0 deaths, 1 recovered
• Okotoks – Priddis – 163 cases, 9 active, 1 deaths, 153 recovered
• Olds – 3 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 3 recovered
• Rocky Mountain House – 1 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 1 recovered
• Strathmore – 23 cases, 2 active, 0 deaths, 21 recovered
• Sundre – 2 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 2 recovered
• Sylvan Lake – 3 cases, 0 active; 0 deaths; 3 recovered
• Three Hills / Highway 21 – 4 cases, 0 active, 0 deaths, 4 recovered

OUTBREAK SITES 

• Other outbreak sites:

• Amazon Distribution Centre, Balzac
• APS Calgary
• Calgary Alpha House
•  Calgary Drop-in Rehab Centre Society, Calgary – 10 cases, 2 recovered
• Calgary Refrigerated Warehouse, Calgary
• Canada Post, Calgary
• Cargill Meat Processing Plant, High River
• Cascade Recovery+, Calgary, 14 cases
• Co-op Macleod Trail, Calgary
• Co-op Midtown, Calgary
• ECCO Recycling and Energy Corporation, Calgary
• Fibrebuilt Manufacturing, Calgary
• Flyers force, Calgary
• Golden Happiness Bakery
• Harmony Beef – Meat packing, Rocky View County
•  JBS Foods/Brooks  
• McDonalds, Brooks
• MCF Feedlots, Brooks
•  Purolator, Calgary – 59 employees, 5 have recovered so far
•  Terashita’s No Frills, Brooks
• Thomas Fresh, Calgary
• Walmart Logistics Distribution Warehouse, Calgary
• West Coast Reduction Ltd, Calgary

Aggressive measures are being implemented in all outbreaks and they are affective.  AHS and Public Health has learned from the earlier outbreaks and is putting aggressive measures in place immediately an outbreak is identified. Exposures that happened before measures put in place can continue to happen for up to 2 weeks because of the long incubation period. 

ABTraceTogether app

The ABTraceTogether app will enhance current manual contact tracing and capacity, and facilitate early detection to help reduce the spread of the virus and better protect Albertans. It means Albertans will be contacted more quickly if they are at risk.

Use of the app is voluntary; users must opt in.

The app does not track the user’s physical location and does not use GPS. Protecting privacy is paramount; all contact data is only on the user’s phone and is deleted after 21 days.  

Secure contact tracing is a cornerstone of Alberta’s Relaunch Strategy. More information on the app, including links to download it, can be found online.

Since its launch, the app has attracted 196,235 registered users.  

–GOOD NEWS STORIES—US Astronauts Launched in US Spacecraft
Two US astronauts took off yesterday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral in Florida., the first time astronauts have left the earth from the Center since 2011. Since the Apollo program was discontinued, US astronauts have flown to the International Space Center in Russian spaceships launched from Kazakhstan. The historic spaceflight was made in a privately-owned spacecraft, the Dragon Crew, built by Space-X. Space-X’s  Falcon 9 rocket detached from the ship as planned and landed successfully on a drone ship in the ocean.  The flight was a partnership between NASA and Space-X. 

Space-X,  founded by Elon Musk, is the only company so far to launch humans into orbit. And only three countries have achieved this milestone in spaceflight – the US, Russia and China. The landing of the Falcon 9 is also a  milestone as it marks the first time a reusable rocket has carried humans into orbit. The two experienced astronauts successfully docked with the ‘International Space Station 19 hours later. 

Some Sports Return            
Baseball already started in South Korea.            
European soccer restarted but without fans.           
NASCAR started, also without fans.            
The NHL plans to isolate teams in two hub cities. Edmonton and Toronto are both under consideration.            
The NBA is working on a plan to allow play to resume.             
Major league baseball is planning to restart and only play half of its usual number of games.