Active COVID-19 cases in the MD of Bonnyville and Cold Lake have risen again, according to Alberta Health Services. In the most recent update Thursday afternoon, AHS says the MD of Bonnyville now has 11 active cases while the City of Cold Lake has 17 active cases.
An active case was confirmed in Lac La Biche as well, making it the 5th case in total for that area. The County of St. Paul is said to have 6 active cases.
A total of 477 new cases were confirmed across the province between Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the number of active cases up to 4,921. There were also five additional COVID-related deaths.
Meanwhile, Alberta is officially removing runny nose and a sore throat from the list of symptoms that require mandatory isolation for children. The change comes into effect on Monday.
Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw says this only applies to kids who have had no known contact with a COVID-19 case.
Children with a core isolation symptom – cough, fever, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell – must still isolate for ten days or have a negative test result and resolved symptoms before they can return to school or activities.
Hinshaw says the changes align with Ontario, BC, and Quebec adding those provinces haven’t seen an increase in COVID-transmission in schools since they updated their symptom list.
With files from Tina Karst, MyLethbridgeNow.com