St. Paul Co-op closes some outlets due to positive COVID cases

55 new cases of COVID-19 in the Lakeland area Friday

Cornerstone Co-op has closed some of their St. Paul outlets because of positive COVID cases linked to their stores.

The grocer chain said that on Thursday, they had four St Paul employees test positive. All of these employees were at home isolating prior to testing, they said in a public statement.

Their pharmacy, deli, and convenience store will be closed until they do a deep cleaning and will update residents on when they expect to be open again.

A confirmed case of COVID has been linked to F.G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School. Most students are at home learning this week.

Positive tests continue to increase in the Lakeland.

In the St. Paul-Saddle Lake, 22 new cases have been reported on the province’s virus data map under “local geographic area.”

There are 116 active cases and 223 recoveries. Three new cases were reported on Saddle Lake News, Events, and Information page with 34 active and 171 recovered as of Thursday.

Seven new cases have been reported in the Cold Lake area on Friday. There are 74 active cases and 84 recovered, and includes three cases active in Cold Lake First Nation.

In the Lac La Biche area, there is 74 active cases, 34 recoveries, and one death that was reported on Thursday. That’s after 2 new cases were reported on the province’s virus data map under local geographic area.

In the Bonnyville area, there are seven new cases under “local geographic area.” There is 28 active with 74 recovered, seven active in Kehewin with 40 recovered yesterday.

Twelve new cases were reported in the Frog Lake area after the First Nation went into a lockdown again on Thursday. Three cases have been identified within the First Nation.

In the Smoky Lake area, three new cases have been reported in the past day. There are 29 active and 32 recovered.

Within Two Hills County, 24 cases are active, 22 have recovered, and one person has died due to the virus total. That’s after seven new cases on Friday.

In Vermilion River County, four new positive tests have occurred. There is 16 active cases and 22 recoveries with one death.

Provincial update

On Friday, chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported 1,828 new cases after roughly 17,200 tests.

The positivity rate has reached a grim milestone, said Dr. Hinshaw, climbing over three per cent in over a week to 10.5 per cent.

There are 533 Albertans in hospital with 99 of those in intensive care.

Fifteen deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours related to COVID.

There are 18,243 active cases in the province.

*A previous version of this story said there 97 new cases on Friday, but that was a combination of new cases from Thursday and Friday. Local cases are reported by “local geographic area” on the AHS COVID map, unless otherwise listed, like Two Hills County and County of Vermilion River.