Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader

During the week of October 9 to 16, the last active cases in the M.D. of Lesser Slave River and Northern Sunrise County recovered. However, there were five new cases in Big Lakes County. Two of these were students at Kinuso School.

An Oct. 12 High Prairie School Division COVID-19 update says, “a case of COVID-19 has been diagnosed in a student from Kinuso School. The student was contacted by Alberta Health Services as a known contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The student went in for testing and has been notified that they are positive for COVID-19. The student has been in isolation since they were notified as a known contact. A second student in the same household additionally tested positive for COVID-19. They have also been in isolation for the same time period. Both students are asymptomatic.”

Nearby

Nearby active cases: Big Lakes County (five – all new), M.D. of Opportunity (three – one recovered and two new), Athabasca (one – new), Westlock County (one – new), Lesser Slave (zero – last one recovered), Northern Sunrise (zero – last one recovered), , and Woodlands County (zero).

North Zone

The AHS North Zone covers northern Alberta from south of Jasper, Athabasca, and Cold Lake to the border with the Northwest Territories. It has about 40 municipalities (which include communities with populations under 10,000) and large towns or cities (population over 10,000). As of Oct. 16, there were active cases in 27 of these (see graph).

Most municipalities or cities had between one and six cases. However, four had more: M.D. of Spirit River (seven), Smoky Lake County (10), Fort McMurray (19), and City of Grande Prairie (49).

Of these four, Grande Prairie is the closest. It is three hours southwest of Slave Lake.