While the provincial government announced details of a program to help farmers and ranchers impacted by COVID-19, Alberta only recorded 54 new cases Thursday of the disease.
Premier Jason Kenney said with 400,000 cattle backed up in feed lots due to reduced capacity at meat packing plants, the program will help avoid a crisis by paying to keep them there.
Programs for the potato, pork and honey bee sectors were also announced. Kenney estimated the total cost of it all would be around $42 million.
Among the new COVID cases, 12 are in Brooks and two in Cypress County, which hadn’t seen an increase in a couple weeks.
Medicine Hat had no new cases and now has only eight active cases reported. Cypress has three active and Brooks 595.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw warned against stopping the precautions that are in place to avoid more outbreaks, noting that one case can balloon into dozens including deaths if social distancing and proper hygiene practices are not followed.
She also noted that businesses allowed to open don’t have to if they don’t feel safe to do so.
