OLDS – With COVID-19 seemingly under control in the region for the first seven months of the pandemic the virus has now forced shutdowns at one hotel, two restaurants and caused two positive school results.
As well, there is concern the pandemic in this area may be worse than what is being reported, with one businessman worried contact tracers for the region could be overwhelmed.
“We have video of all the time that (the infected tavern server) was serving the public and basically our inspectors said contact tracers were so busy that they probably wouldn’t contact the person, the positive test, for probably at least a few days,” said Bob Rayton, owner of the Olds Hotel, which has been closed since Oct. 15 after learning a young female part-time server at the hotel’s Blue Yak tavern tested positive for COVID.
“Nobody is contacting us. I had mine (test) done last Friday, and still haven’t heard from anybody,” he added. “I know the person from my staff who tested positive said nobody contacted her for days and she finally got a hold of the contact tracers herself. Nobody contacted her at all.”
Rayton said since Oct. 15 he has been dealing with two public health inspectors from the Olds College Campus Community Health Centre. The Albertan attempted to contact them but both were not immediately available for comment.
Rayton said he also immediately advised all monthly renters in the hotel’s 15 rooms of the staff member’s positive COVID test result. He said he posted notices on the doors of each renter last weekend and urged them to get tested for COVID, especially if they were in the hotel tavern.
The positive test result of the Olds Hotel tavern server followed another positive case from a Boston Pizza employee who worked at both Olds and Innisfail outlets.
Yesterday (Oct. 19), Chinook’s Edge School Division confirmed a positive test result at both Bowden Grandview School and Horizon School in Olds.
A Boston Pizza news release issued Oct. 13 said the infected employee’s last shift in Innisfail was Wednesday evening on Oct. 7, and Thursday evening on Oct. 8 in Olds. Both outlets were closed, and then reopened on Oct. 14.
Marian Raty, director of communications for Boston Pizza International Inc., emphasized the company’s primary concern is for the safety of guests and staff.
“We therefore immediately closed the restaurant for a complete and thorough cleaning, and contacted the public health authorities and have followed their direction, including re-opening,” said Raty. “All Boston Pizza staff who worked with the COVID-19 positive team member have since been tested, returning negative results. We will continue to reinforce our COVID-19 procedures and protocols, including increased sanitization and enforcing social distancing throughout the restaurant.”
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Kurt Sacher, the superintendent of schools for Chinook’s Edge, said he was not authorized to answer whether the test results from both schools came from students or staff members.
The positive test result at Bowden Grandview School was confirmed and reported Oct. 18 while the one at Horizon School was confirmed about two weeks ago.
“We have every confidence the school (Bowden) was doing exactly what it was expected to do, relative to protocols, so we have no reason to change anything,” said Sacher. “Unfortunately it is one of those things that is going to happen from time to time in a school division of our size, that we will have a few positive cases over time.”
Sacher said the positive case at the Olds school was “very isolated”, with the infected person needing to self-isolate. He said there have been no shutdowns put in place or considered at either school.
According to Alberta Health Services case counts, the Innisfail local geographic area, which includes south Red Deer County, has had 10 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and as of the morning of Oct. 19 there were two active cases and eight recovered cases.
The Olds local geographic area, which includes north Mountain View County, has had 12 cases of which four are active and eight have recovered.
The Didsbury local geographic area, which includes Carstairs and south Mountain View County, has had 27 cases of which nine are active and 18 are listed as recovered.
The Sundre local geographic area, which includes west Mountain View County, has had one case since the start of the pandemic listed as recovered.
- With files from Lea Smaldon
