Alberta reports two new cases and another nine recoveries of COVID-19 in Fort McMurray in the last 24 hours.
In the urban service area, there are 55 active cases, one death, and 118 recovered cases of the infection.
The province also said there are no new cases or recoveries of COVID-19 outside the urban service area, which has four active cases and 58 recovered cases.
RELATED: Alberta releases online map reporting status of schools for COVID-19
Across the province, there are 113 active cases, five deaths, and 199 recovered cases of COVID-19.
Dr Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said the deaths occurred over the last few days.
She also provided an update on outbreaks at three southern Alberta schools.
Says each school has two confirmed cases.
Overall, there are 24 confirmed COVID cases that have been in 21 schools. #yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) September 10, 2020
Hinshaw spoke on the online school tracking map, which Alberta will update every afternoon, and its purpose in the event of an outbreak.
“There will be cases where parents may get a letter later in the day when something [has] been identified. That will not be updated on the site until the following day, because those who need to know for taking action will be informed by letter or phone call if they’re identified as a close contact of that case.”
The website, she added, is a metric to let the public know what the impacts are in school with respect to COVID-19.
Direct action at affected schools would already be underway.
Hinshaw suggested including students, teachers, and staff in collaborating ways of help to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
All Alberta school boards prepared online instruction.
Hinshaw also addressed the lag in wait times for COVID-19 test results.
She announced answers will be available to Albertans awaiting results via text message or an auto-dialer.
Officials will send notifications as soon as results are available.
When asked about the impact of mandatory masking orders, Hinshaw said it’s challenging to evaluate.
“We are seeing that transmission that’s being reported are typically not in public spaces that would be impacted by the masking orders. We are seeing social gatherings, not necessarily in a business, but in a home or private function. Those are often where we’re seeing these outbreaks or small clusters of spread.”
She said public orders on masking are difficult to enforce in private settings.
RMWB Council will debate a bylaw on masking in public spaces on Sept. 14.
RELATED: Council to hear motion addressing mandatory masks in RMWB
The province has 1494 active cases, 253 deaths, and 13,557 resolved cases of the illness.
43 Albertans are currently in hospital, including seven in intensive care.
Health officials conducted 9711 COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours for a total of 1,072,681 tests.
Hinshaw will provide another update on Sept. 11, 2020.
