77 Alberta health-care workers test positive for COVID-19

Alberta Health says 77 health-care workers in the province have tested positive for COVID-19 though none are believed to have been hospitalized.

Officials are not providing a breakdown by profession or location andthere is no information as to how many front-line workers are currently in isolation.

Most of the cases involve returning travellers as well as participants at a curlingbonspielin Edmonton, according to the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, at her daily briefing Tuesday.

Eleven Alberta health-care workers, most of them doctors, attended thebonspiel earlier this month and latertested positive for coronavirus.

'We need to look after them'

At Tuesday'sbriefing, Dr. Mark Joffe, vice-president and medical director with Alberta Health Services, said he is "very closely" monitoring the situation andis involved in contingency planning but noted staffing levels are not yet affected by sick workers.

"Hearing that colleagues of mine, some of whom I know have become infected, thatis very troublesome," saidJoffe.

"As a health-care community, we becomelike a large family."

"We need to look after them."

Hinshaw said she expects to have a further breakdown of the details later this week.

More front-line workers expected to fall ill, saysdoctor

Thenumber of affected health-care workers is expectedto change as investigations are ongoing,according to Alberta Health spokespersonTom McMillan.

Today's announcementunderlines the risk of being on the front-lines during this pandemic, says family physician and head of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association, Dr. Ernst Schuster.

"Its a worrisome number, and of course we will see that go up, especially as the need arises," said Schuster. "We're going to have to put more and more health-care professionals at risk to deal with these patients."

The province is working on a way to provide regularupdates on the numbers involving its front-line medical staff.

Last week, the province announcedhealth-care workers across Alberta wouldbe screened for COVID-19 at the beginningof every shift.

The screening involvesdoctors, nurses and other staff at hospitals, urgent care centres and long-term care facilitieshaving their temperature taken and filling out a questionnaire.

Hinshaw, said anyone found to have a feveror symptoms would be sent home and told to self-isolate.