Calgary E. coli outbreak: province gives $2,000 per child

Families affected by a massive E. coli outbreak linked to several daycare centers in Calgary will receive financial assistance from the Alberta government.

Premier Daniel Smith announced the compassionate care funding on Friday morning, saying families affected by the outbreak would receive a one-off compassionate care payment of $2,000 per child.

“Families are not alone in this or that,” Smith said.

“Our aim is to get the money to parents as quickly as possible and we will be sending out information on how to apply for help shortly.”

“Definitely a step in the right direction. I know that $2,000 is useful for my family who have babysitters or nannies,” said Danielle Redwood.

Her three-year-old son is one of those infected with Escherichia coli.

Earlier this month, E. coli outbreaks were reported at several Calgary childcare facilities that use a centralized kitchen operated by Fueling Minds Inc.

As of Friday, 337 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease have been reported, and 12 patients are hospitalized, officials said.

Dr. Mark Joffe, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, calls the update “encouraging.”

“This is eight less than two days ago,” he said.

Ten patients have hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and six are on dialysis, Joff said.

There are 26 people who got sick after being in contact with the infected person.

“The relatively small number of additional transmissions suggests that a quick response to this outbreak and contact with families helped limit the spread,” Joffe said.

KITCHEN CLOSED FOR “MEXICAN”.

On Tuesday, health officials found a number of serious violations in the kitchen, including improper food handling, inadequate sanitation and pest control issues.

All affected daycares have been allowed to reopen, Joffe said, but staff and children who decide to visit must provide a negative stool sample before doing so.

As for the centralized kitchen, it remains closed “indefinitely”.

“I can assure you that there were no lapses or delays in inspections at this facility. Every food processing facility in the province is inspected at least once a year – this is a standard and requirement in the legislation.

“As for this facility, it was inspected five times in 2023.

Joff said the inspections were due to “concerns about the facility,” which increased the number of inspector visits.

“The last inspection of the facility was at the end of April 2023. At that time, two violations were identified, which were corrected by the operator by the end of the day,” Joff said.

According to him, the critical violations found on September 5 were different from those previously found.

TEST CONTINUES

Joff said that although experts have collected 45 food samples from the affected establishment, they are no closer to identifying the source of the E. coli infection.

“This is a very complex investigation,” he said.

“Finding the exact source of how this happened is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Health officials have received 19 results so far, and none have tested positive for E. coli.

Joff says officials are still interviewing patients about what they ate to determine history and gather evidence.

“We all want answers and we hope that through a methodical, coordinated and systematic approach we can provide them as soon as possible,” he said.

The premier says the province will continue to work closely with programs involved in the outbreak and will conduct strict inspections of shared kitchens serving other facilities.

“I know parents want answers, and so do I,” Smith said.

“We will study the rules and if changes are needed, we will make them.”

That's hopeful news for parents, including Redwood.

“I feel like they took it seriously,” he said.

Her son is doing much better now, but Redwood hopes other families never have to go through this.

“Of course, this cannot be repeated and it must be changed,” he said.