A total of 12 officers in the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday. Corporal Deanna Fontaine tells MyGrandePrairieNow.com all of the mounties affected are in self-isolation, following provincial public health guidelines.
“Everyone is doing well and once they’ve met those self-isolation requirements they’ll be back to work and ready to contribute to the safety of our province,” she says. “In regards to our sanitization efforts and all that, we continue to work with Alberta Health Services on a regular basis in order to comply with their recommendations,” she says.
She adds despite the setback, the detachment is conducting business as usual. Fontaine assures the public policing will continue and the detachment is still fully capable of serving and protecting.
“I’d like to assure everyone that we have the adequate resources in place to keep Albertans safe.”
The front of counter services closed to the public on October 15th after two employees tested positive at the detachment. Services reopened on October 19th after a deep clean of the facility.
Fontaine says the measures that are currently in place take into account current case numbers.
“We’ve been given the green light to reopen as of yesterday with the sanitization efforts that took place over the weekend,” she says. “The pandemic is not new; we have had planning in place for a very long time for these potential scenarios and so these things have been anticipated as a potential possibility and we have been prepared.”
Alberta Health has not yet designated the facility as an outbreak.