A daycare at the centre of an E. coli outbreak at several daycares is seen in Calgary, Sept. 15, 2023.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alberta shuttered a handful of daycares late Friday night as the E. coli crisis officials hoped was waning continues to rattle parents, politicians, and health professionals.
Mark Joffe, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, in a statement released shortly before midnight, said children who tested positive for E. coli attended five additional daycare sites.
“Some of these children are connected to daycares from the original outbreak,” he said. “These additional facilities will be closed, out of an abundance of caution.”
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Alberta also closed one of the 11 daycares that was part of the original rash of infections. That closure was made as a “precaution pending testing results.” The province closed another facility, unconnected from the original group of daycares, Friday morning.
Alberta Health Services on Sept. 4 declared an E. coli outbreak and hundreds of children linked to the first 11 daycares have tested positive for the infection, including more than half a dozen who ended up on dialysis.
Dr. Joffe’s statement hinted the new closures happened after children who were enrolled in one of the 11 daycares at the heart of the outbreak subsequently attended facilities outside of the original cluster.
He stressed that children tied to any of the closed or previously shuttered daycares must test negative for E. coli before returning to a facility.
“It is crucial for parents who have children who attend these daycares follow the guidance being given to them by health care professionals. If your daycare is closed, please respect why this is done and keep your children at home,” his statement said. “Only send your child to another facility if they have tested negative for E. coli and have no symptoms.”
He asked all daycare operators in the Calgary region to confirm the “health and daycare history of children who are new” to their facilities. “By working together and following health guidance, we will stop this outbreak,” Dr. Joffe said.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said, in a social media post late Friday, said it is “absolutely crucial” that parents with children who attended the affected sites follow the guidance provided by health professionals.
”If your daycare is closed, please respect this closure and keep your children at home and follow public health advice,” she said. “We must work together and follow the advice of our health care experts to ensure we stop the spread of this disease.”
The newly-closed daycares are Active Start Country Hills, CanCare Childcare’s Scenic Acres location, CEFA Early Learning Childcare South, MTC Daycare, and Renert Junior Kindergarten. Alberta on Friday evening also said Vik Academy in Okotoks, one of the 11 daycares shuttered earlier this month, has been closed again.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Joffe identified an additional case of E. coli at a daycare unconnected to the original outbreak, which AHS later confirmed was Calgary JCC Child Care. The health authority put the daycare on its closure list Friday. Early information indicates the child may have come in contact with another child involved in the original outbreak, the province said in a press release.
“Our staff are investigating a possible link to this outbreak but there’s no confirmation that it is directly linked at this point,” Dr. Joffe said Friday morning. “It is sadly routine for us to see small numbers of E. coli cases each week, even in children, and it also highlights just how complex the investigation into this outbreak can be. Each case needs to be thoroughly followed up with linkages determined.”
Earlier in the week, AHS rescinded the closure orders for the initial cluster of daycares. Operators make the final decision on whether to reopen, some of which did.
Officials believe a shared kitchen servicing the facilities is the source of the outbreak, but the investigation is ongoing. After AHS declared the outbreak, inspectors found cockroaches, the smell of sewer gas, and other safety violations in the kitchen. It is closed “indefinitely” while the investigation into the source of the E. coli surge is continuing.
Premier Danielle Smith, at the Friday morning news conference, announced a “compassionate payment” of $2,000 per child for families “whose child care provider was closed due to the outbreak.” The money, she said, was to help alleviate the financial hardship caused by the outbreak. It is unclear whether the money will be extended to families linked to the newly-shuttered facilities.
Ms. Smith also pledged to “make changes as needed” to food safety regulations for shared kitchens that serve child care centres following a government review.
The shared kitchen is operated by Fuelings Minds Inc., which shares the same directors as Fueling Brains. Fueling Brains operates six of the 11 daycares that were closed earlier in the month. Dr. Joffe, on Friday morning, said lab results have come back for 19 of the 45 “food items” collected from the kitchen and daycares. All have tested negative for E. coli.
Alberta on Friday morning said its labs confirmed 337 cases of E. coli related to the 11 daycares. Of those, 12 patients were in hospital and 10 had hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a severe illness caused by E. coli infection. Six patients were receiving dialysis as of Friday morning, he said. The province counted 26 cases of secondary transmission within households tied to the original outbreak.