The first Tatjana Dunn heard about an active COVID-19 case in her Calgary condo building was via an email from her landlord on June 10.
Her landlord was notified by the building’s management company the previous day.
Then, more than a week later, her friends started sending her messages: her 25-storey highrise building was in the news.
“I was fearful that I had exposed my friends and loved ones to the virus unknowingly, also a little bit afraid of the building,” Dunn said.
Alberta Health Services officially declared an outbreak at The Verve, a condo building in the city’s East Village, on June 22, according to a statement from a spokesperson. As of Saturday there were 40 COVID-19 cases — 31 active and nine recovered. Three people were in hospital as of Thursday.
Dunn is confused about how the virus spread through her building and feels the highrise and its residents have been unfairly stigmatized.
From what Dunn has seen, the building’s common spaces are clean and protocols are in place to ensure people enter and leave the building safely.
Amenities are shut down, a lounge where people would normally gather is closed and all the furniture has been removed, and Dunn said staff throughout the building wear masks.
“Maybe somebody had a gathering they know they weren’t supposed to have,” she said.
A top official with the World Health Organization has walked back statements that the spread of COVID-19 from asymptomatic people is “very rare,” amid backlash from experts citing a lack of data. Power & Politics speaks to doctors Zain Chagla and Samir Gupta about asymptomatic transmission and the messaging coming from the WHO. 8:15
The 288-unit building includes retail on the ground floor. Those living in the five-floor podium base have a separate entryway and elevator from those living in the tower.
Dunn said she and her housemate are looking for answers and have questions for AHS.
“I would ask them which floors were affected, and if there’s any patterns or clusters to be aware of within specific locations in the building. I’d also really want to know if there’s anybody who has come forward about a gathering or something like that,” she said. “Because there’s been nothing noted, anything is an option.”
Most cases have no known exposure
Much of what Dunn is looking to find out is under investigation.
Most of the cases have no known exposure and no clear link with other people in the building, that AHS officials have found. The investigation is trying to track whether there were person-to-person transmissions, and investigators are also looking at surface spread.
AHS said investigators will be on site looking at high-touch surfaces as a potential source of transmission and plan to do environmental sampling this week — which includes testing air, surfaces and water.
Health Canada has said close contact between people is the most common way the novel coronavirus is spread, and it’s not yet known how long the virus persists on different surfaces.
We’re just going to continue to stay diligent.-Tatjana Dunn, resident of Verve in Calgary
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, first mentioned the outbreak in her June 19 update. At that time, she said a highrise building in Calgary had 12 cases. She didn’t name the building.
A week later she urged the importance of not stigmatizing a location or specific group of people because it’s critical that those who come forward and get tested doesn’t suffer negative consequences and continue to cooperate with officials.
“Every measure that needs to be taken to prevent spread is being undertaken,” Hinshaw said. “Alberta Health Services is working with that group of people and getting a lot of support from that building management group.
AHS said when an increase in cases in the building was identified, public health inspectors visited the site to inspect food establishments and housing areas.
“Appropriate measures to reduce transmission were already in place at that time, including enhanced cleaning practices, and no concerning lapses in procedure were identified,” the emailed statement read.
An infectious disease specialist answers questions about the COVID-19 pandemic including whether two metres are still enough for physical distancing. 3:05
The management company, FirstService Residential, has kept residents up to date with numerous emails, which CBC News has reviewed. Building management held a town hall this week for residents of Verve, and another one is planned for this week. Onsite testing has also been made available.
Dunn said she lined up and got her negative results quickly, though she noticed many in the line didn’t wear a mask.
Close friends of hers have also tested negative.
“We’re just going to continue to stay diligent,” she said. “Continuing to follow the recommended protocols of frequently washing our hands, wearing masks, limiting those in your home and how often we are in public spaces.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
