CALGARY -- A child who attended daycare in the Suncor Energy Centre building in downtown Calgary has been confirmed to have COVID-19.
According to Suncor spokesperson Erin Rees, the child was last at the daycare on March 6 and Suncor became aware of the results Wednesday. It's not clear at this stage whether the child’s parents work at Suncor.
Following this development - and under Alberta Health chief medical officer's guidance -- the daycare was closed effective March 12 and is scheduled to reopen on March 23.
Suncor employees with children in the daycare have been asked to stay home until March 20. The employees in self-isolation are being asked to work from home if they can.
The daycare case is the first confirmed pediatric case of COVID-19 in Alberta and the first known case involving a child in Canada. Prior to the daycare case, Alberta Health Services reported 19 confirmed cases in Alberta.
It came on the day that COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said, “Alberta has been actively planning for every possible scenario. We know that COVID-19 is going to test our health system and emergency preparedness, but our system is preparing for that test. While the risk of exposure is still low in Alberta, all partners are working together to limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of Albertans.”
Late Thursday, the Pump-kin Patch Child Care Centre issued a statement, confirming that a child had a confirmed case of COVID-19. "The case is directly related to international travel," it added.
It added that two senior staff members, who manage and visit all their child care centres, are also quaratined for the next two weeks and have not exhibited any symptoms associated with the virus.
"We are taking extra precautions," it said, "and have implemented strict protocols at all our facilities, including increased cleaning and sanitizing of all surfaces, even more frequent hand-washing by staff and children, and advised our team members to stay home if they are feeling even the slightest of illness."
