Outbreak of COVID-19 in St. Joseph’s College Residence

Posted: September 20, 11:00 p.m.

Today, Alberta Health Services (AHS) notified us that five members of our campus community have tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak is based within the Men’s Residence of St. Joseph’s College on North Campus.

St. Joseph’s College is working closely with AHS and the University of Alberta Public Health Response Team to support contact tracing and to care for the health and isolation needs of those impacted. Our affected students are recovering in isolation.

As a result of the outbreak, the remaining 14 residents of the Men’s Residence will also be self-isolating for the next 14 days. Because these cases have touched our athletics community, to best protect the health and safety of our community, the university has also temporarily suspended all in-person varsity athletics activities for the next 14 days.

Continuing to Support Your Health & Safety

The university has a comprehensive campus safety and rapid response plan that has allowed a number of activities to safely return to our campuses. We want to assure our community that affected areas of our campus are being sanitized and deep cleaned. AHS has advised us that other regularly planned campus activities can carry forward, thanks in large part to the effectiveness of our existing health and safety measures. This means that classes, labs, and research previously scheduled for North Campus will occur as planned this week.

Any individuals who may have been exposed will be contacted directly by AHS and/or the university’s Public Health Response Triage Team, who have been asked to provide support to AHS in their contact tracing efforts. As is true with any COVID-19 case - on our campuses or elsewhere - if you have been to a location where individuals have tested positive, but were not in direct close physical contact with the person who tested positive, it is unlikely that you are at risk or that you need to isolate. If AHS and/or the U of A’s Triage Team do not contact you as part of their contract tracing efforts, you are considered safe from exposure.

The pandemic has been difficult for everyone, but we should all be proud of our collective efforts and sacrifices to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic is still a reality, and by continuing to maintain our physical distance, stay home when feeling unwell, wearing our masks, and washing our hands, we will continue to do our part to keep each other safe.

Thanks go out to the U of A community for your continued patience, understanding, and mutual support for one another. We may be apart, but we are all in this together.

On behalf of the community, I’d like to extend our best wishes for a restful recovery for those in isolation. Out of respect for the individuals involved and privacy laws, we are unable to share further details about them at this time.

~ Andrew Sharman
Vice-President (Facilities & Operations)
Executive Lead, Public Health Response Team (PHRT)

phrtinfo@ualberta.ca

Support Services Available to the U of A Community

• • The Employee and Family Assistance Program at 780-428-7587
  • Mental health support for faculty and staff
  • Mental health support for students
  • Health and wellness support