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EDITORIAL: Alberta Health failing to inform valley residents about COVID numbers

According to Alberta Health spokespeople, there are no and have never been any COVID-19 outbreaks in Banff or Lake Louise.

According to Alberta Health spokespeople, there are no and have never been any COVID-19 outbreaks in Banff or Lake Louise.

But according to municipal officials, like Banff's mayor, Alberta Health is on site in the community actively working with workplaces where there are outbreaks of the virus.

This presents a conundrum for valley residents and one that should bother all those who value timely, accurate information about the risk this coronavirus poses to them and their community. 

The system for reporting cases and outbreaks is fundamentally flawed in a way that puts Bow Valley communities at a disadvantage to appropriately assess the risk they are presently facing.

The first issue is the numbers overall. Since mid-March, we have all gone to the geospatial map on the website detailing COVID-19 cases in Alberta to check these statistics on a daily basis.

On July 21, there were six cases in Canmore and three in Banff and Lake Louise. By Oct. 2, there were zero cases in these communities reported on this website.

As of Tuesday (Dec. 1), Canmore had 93 cases while Banff and Lake Louise had 185.

But this is just a fraction of the actual cases in these communities. What is the real number? We will never know, because this system was designed to use postal codes to identify the geographic region or municipality that a test shows up in. 

For places like Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise – that means that anyone currently residing in these communities, but with a permanent address elsewhere – does not register in local case counts if they test positive.

As of Monday (Nov. 30), Alberta Health officials confirmed there were 353 positive cases of COVID in the province of Alberta without a valid postal code.

It is a logical conclusion to draw that some of those are here in the valley, but how many will always remain unclear due to how this system was set up.

We know there are outbreaks of COVID-19 in the valley. There was an outbreak among Nordic skiers and among local junior A hockey players and team staff. 

These do not appear on the list of outbreaks, however, for Canmore. They appeared on the outbreak list for Calgary, a list that is only updated on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  

In Banff, we know that testing is underway for workplaces that are experiencing an "outbreak" according to municipal officials. We know multiple businesses are closed because they don't have enough staff able to work – either because they are COVID-positive or have been exposed and are required to isolate.

An outbreak is defined by the government as five or more cases for public settings, like restaurants and gyms, or more than 10 cases for events and other workplaces, like office buildings. There are no standards set for an outbreak in a staff accommodation setting. 

"There are no outbreaks to date that have met these public reporting standards," according to assistant director of communications for Alberta Health Tom McMillan.

The cases in Banff and Lake Louise are also reported together. How many are in each community? They cannot tell us. What is the source of transmission in these communities? They cannot tell us.  

We would like to suggest that Alberta Health undertake a sincere and qualified effort to rectify this error and provide our communities and their residents with accurate information. Quality data is required under these current circumstances and when it comes to the Bow Valley, Alberta Health is not meeting that expectation. 

A handful of cases missing from the city of Calgary or Edmonton's numbers is a minor statistical aberration, but a dozen or two cases missing from local statistics in the Bow Valley is an inexcusable error. 

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