Alberta Health Link switchboard swamped with COVID-19 calls

CALGARY -- If you're worried about COVID-19 and its spread in Alberta, health authorities advise you to call Health Link, the province's 24-hour health information line.

However, 811 has been experiencing "extremely high call volumes," so it might be a bit hard to get through to someone.

Alberta Health Services posted on social media Tuesday that the service was overloaded with calls from residents concerned about COVID-19 and advised people to try and call between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. or between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Health Link continues to experience very high volume due to individuals seeking advice on #COVID19. Wait times are high, particularly during peak times of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 pm to 10 p.m. Thank you for your patience.

— Alberta Health Services (@AHS_media) March 10, 2020

The agency also added it is working on training additional staff to help deal with the sheer volume of calls but said if you merely have questions, you should try Alberta Health's website first.

Anyone who has been tested for COVID-19 is asked to avoid calling Health Link for results of the testing procedure. Those patients will be contacted directly, AHS says.

If you are awaiting COVID test results, please do not call Health Link, which does not have access to test results. If you have been tested for COVID, you will be called directly with your test results.

— Alberta Health Services (@AHS_media) March 10, 2020

Health Link provides medical advice and navigation services via telephone free of charge to all Albertans. It adopted the dedicated '811' hotline in June 2015.

There are 14 presumptive and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alberta and 94 total cases in Canada. One of the patients in B.C. died from the illness while eight (four in B.C. and four in Ontario) have recovered.