Fueling Brains Academy Centennial location is pictured in Calgary, on Sept. 13, with signage reflecting its former operating name, Kids U. The daycares have been at the centre of a significant outbreak of E. coli in Alberta.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
There’s still much to uncover about what caused Calgary’s disastrous E. coli outbreak this month, and what Premier Danielle Smith meant when she said there will be “consequences.”
But Albertans still need to see much more from her government and public-health leaders regarding what has become a horrible journey for sick children and their families.
At issue is the mystery of how 310 people – many of them children – have been sickened by E coli. What public officials know as of Wednesday is that the bacteria probably came from a central kitchen that provided food to multiple child-care centres. Exactly which food item was contaminated is still unclear, and scientists say the investigation could take weeks.
The outbreak of E. coli 0157, or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, is likely the largest in Alberta’s history – and one of the worst in Canada. It can hit the very young hard. As of Wednesday, there were 21 children in hospital, with 14 other patients already discharged. Twenty patients have been confirmed to have a potentially life-threatening complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. Seven of those patients are on dialysis.
Alberta Health Services declared the outbreak on Sept. 4 for six locations of the Fueling Brains daycare in Calgary and five additional child-care sites connected by a central kitchen. The Fueling Brains Academy was originally founded as Kids U in 2012. It now serves more than 20,000 children in Calgary, Saskatchewan and the United States.
The idea of preschoolers facing kidney failure because of what they ate for lunch is almost too terrible to contemplate.
Also read: What to know about E. coli infection symptoms and how to handle an outbreak
The first news conference featuring politicians on the outbreak took place Tuesday. There were few new details, including basics such as the age of those affected. Alberta Health Services had to send a statement clarifying remarks from Dr. Mark Joffe, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, after he said officials did not “feel there was urgency” to address the public until then.
“The priority was first and foremost getting people looked after and then to provide the public with a fulsome update on the situation,” the clarifying statement read.
Parents need child care. Kids need child care. But Children and Family Services Minister Searle Turton’s discussion that the daycares would “soon be able to safely re-open their doors and return to full capacity” seemed premature, since the mystery of where the outbreak originated from isn’t even solved yet. Health care officials said late Wednesday that closure orders for the 11 child care centres have been rescinded.
But what the news conference prodded reporters to look up were past reports that cockroaches, improper food storage equipment and a “sewer gas smell” were identified by public-health inspectors in the kitchen that served the child-care centres where the children got sick.
To be fair, it’s sometimes hard even for the media to convey the urgency of this potentially deadly infection. We’ve been dealing with COVID-19 for more than three years. Everyone, to some degree, has become used to public-health emergencies.
That’s why the appearance of Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, Mr. Turton and Dr. Joffe on Tuesday was so necessary, even as a visual, to convey the seriousness of the E. coli outbreak.
Unlike his predecessor Dr. Deena Hinshaw – punted by the Smith government last November – Dr. Joffe has shied away from the podium. This is probably purposeful.
“I wouldn’t anticipate that you’re going to see daily press conferences,” the Premier said last November, as she appointed Dr. Joffe. The end of Dr. Hinshaw’s time as chief medical officer of health was a means of differentiating Ms. Smith’s government from that of her predecessor, Jason Kenney. The former premier often appeared with Dr. Hinshaw and took ownership of decisions for much of the pandemic in a way that some of his advisers believed was detrimental to his political career.
There will be more public-health tests of her government. Ms. Smith wants to put the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, but parents are bracing for another fall of respiratory disease and a new COVID-19 variant. How her United Conservative Party government responds with public health in mind – actions such as campaigns encouraging vaccinations – will be another question.
On E. coli, Ms. Smith said she has directed Ms. LaGrange and Mr. Turton to do a “full assessment” of the outbreak. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the Premier knew the intricate details of the government’s response, and said taking care of “little ones” who’ve fallen ill was the first priority.
“But there has to be consequences,” she said to reporters, without expounding on what that will mean, and whether she is referring to systemic failures or Fueling Minds Inc., which operates the shared kitchen.
Alberta’s Opposition NDP is calling immediately for a full and public inquiry. And if there’s one thing that has to unite people of all political stripes, we can hope it’s food-handling safeguards for toddlers.
Ms. Smith has a dark part of Canadian history as a guide. In 2000, then-Ontario premier Mike Harris visited the picturesque farming community of Walkerton shortly after nearly half the town’s 5,000-person population fell ill. The water supply had been contaminated with E. coli. The youngest of the seven who died in the outbreak, two-year-old Mary Rose Raymond, took her last breaths in her mother’s arms.
People were understandably angry, and Mr. Harris called an inquiry days after the outbreak was identified. The inquiry report eventually came back with a list of findings and recommendations, speaking to the effect of government cutbacks all the way to the importance of proper chlorination of drinking water.
Ms. Smith might not have to make the same physical pilgrimage as Mr. Harris. Calgary’s circumstance might not be as grim as Walkerton’s. But the Alberta Premier will need to show that her government has truly visited this disaster and will do everything in its power to prevent it happening again.