Five new daycares in Calgary shut down as E. coli outbreak spreads

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Just hours after provincial health officials said Calgary’s E. coli outbreak might be starting to wind down, they’ve closed five more daycares hit by a fresh spread of the severe gastrointestinal illness.

Late Friday, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health said they moved to shutter the daycares and re-closed another impacted in the initial outbreak first detected two weeks ago.

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Some of the children affected in the latest E. coli wave are linked to the earlier outbreak, said Dr. Mark Joffe.

“These additional facilities will be closed, out of an abundance of caution,” Joffe said in a statement released by Alberta Health late Friday night.

“Facilities will be required to be cleaned and sanitized and all children will be tested to confirm their negative status before returning to the centre.”

He said all the facilities’ operators have been contacted and parents whose children attend will also be informed.

On Friday, Joffe provided a hint that the outbreak had spread by telling reporters a child at a daycare not included in the 11 initially impacted had tested positive for E. Coli. As a result, JCC Child Care had been closed.

In the latest announcement, Alberta Health said the newly affected and closed facilities are Active Start Country Hills, CanCare Childcare – Scenic Acres location, CEFA Early Learning Childcare North, MTC Daycare and Renert Junior Kindergarten.

“Additionally, Vik Academy is again closed for precaution pending testing results,” said Joffe, noting the daycare was among the original closures.

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He implored parents and day care workers to follow procedures that reduce the spread of the disease that can be transmitted through water, food or hand-to-mouth contact.

“To all the parents involved in this terrible situation – we hear you and understand what you are going through,” said Joffe.

“However, it is crucial for parents who have children who attend these daycares follow the guidance being given to them by health care professionals…by working together and following health guidance, we will stop this outbreak.”

Children suffering serious symptoms, like bloody diarrhea, they should be taken to an emergency department immediately, he said.

Although lab-confirmed E. coli cases from day care outbreak had continued to rise as of Friday, to 337, the number of children hospitalized had dropped by eight from Wednesday to 12, with 10 of those suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that affects the kidneys and blood clotting ability.

More daycares shut as Alberta offers financial assistance payment for E. coli-impacted families

A timeline of the E. coli outbreak linked to Calgary daycares and a central kitchen

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The new closure orders came down less than a day after Alberta’s premier announced families affected by the E. coli outbreaks would receive $2,000 for each child sickened.

Premier Danielle Smith also said earlier Friday the province will review its regulations governing food provision to the facilities with an eye to toughening up enforcement. But she said any changes to the Public Health Act that could see permanent closure of severely-offending day care kitchens likely wouldn’t take effect until next year.

At the same press conference, Joffe said that while efforts to stem the outbreak “weren’t out of the woods yet,” its trajectory was a positive one.

Even so, he predicted more confirmations of infections were likely.

“We anticipate lab-confirmed cases of E. coli will continue to increase as test results come back but we are cautiously hopeful we won’t see significantly more children with severe illness,” said Joffe.

“We are beginning to see the health impacts of this outbreak starting to wane just a bit.”

He said there had been 26 instances of secondary spread, or transmission in the home.

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Health officials believe a kitchen, Fueling Minds which is affiliated with Fueling Brains day cares and provided food for the initially-impacted 11 day cares, is the source of the outbreak.

But after the testing of at least 45 food items from it, a cause has yet to be identified, reporters were told Friday.

Joffe said Friday due to earlier public health violations, the kitchen has been inspected five times this year, with the facility, until this month, last logging breaches in late April.

Prompted by this month’s E. coli outbreak, Fueling Minds was visited again on Sept. 5 by Alberta Health Services inspectors, who found a cockroach infestation, food handling issues and sanitary shortcomings.

While 10 of the 11 initially-closed day cares have been allowed to re-open, the kitchen has been shut indefinitely, said Joffe and Smith.

John Greenhow, whose two-year-old son attended a Fueling Brains day care and contracted an E. Coli illness, said the scope of the outbreak is horrifying.

“My son’s illness was never serious enough for him to be admitted (to hospital) but I find it heartbreaking the number of parents in this situation, the fear and confusion,” he said, adding the province’s pledges in tightening up the inspections regime must be followed-through.

-more to come

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn

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