Syncrude Canada is confirming that an employee and a contract worker have recently tested positive for COVID-19. The company says the source of infection for both cases was off site.

According to company spokesperson Will Gibson, the employee began showing symptoms during days off, which was on a six-day rotation.

The employee immediately quarantined themselves, contacted Alberta Health Services and did not go into work.

Contact tracing shows the employee came into contact with a presumptive COVID-19 patient when the employee was not working. That presumptive case is not a Syncrude employee.

“AHS has told us this case poses no risk to the organization,” said Gibson. “This employee did everything right.”

The second case was found in a contractor who last reported to a Syncrude operation sometime late last week. The company the individual worked for is not being named.

Health authorities are doing contact tracing and getting in touch with anyone who may have come into contact with this individual. Once those people are identified, they will be told to quarantine themselves.

Syncrude was told about the employee’s positive results on April 22 and the contractor’s results on April 21.

Because there is no evidence the virus was contracted at any of Syncrude’s operations, the province has not declared an outbreak.

“These are two unrelated cases,” said Gibson. “We have prepared for a case in our workforce. We are taking this seriouslty and we’ve had plans well in place to address any potential impacts based on previous pandemics, all the way back to H1N1 and SARS.”

Gibson did not know where the two individuals lived full-time, but said they would have spent at least some time in Fort McMurray during their shifts. They were not travelling into any Syncrude work site when they began showing symptoms.

He also said the company has also scaled back its workforce since the pandemic began. Gibson did not have any specific numbers on Thursday, but confirmed there are “thousands less” working at Syncrude during the crisis.

Nine active cases in Fort McMurray, 32 connected to Kearl Lake outbreak

The total number of active cases in Fort McMurray is now nine. Another four people have recovered. Two people in Wood Buffalo’s rural areas have recovered and there are no active cases in those communities.

Currently, 32 cases have been linked to Kearl Lake. Of these cases, 25 cases are still in Alberta. Ten workers are quarantined at the camp, while 15 workers tested positive after leaving the camp.

The other seven cases are being treated in other provinces. Five of those cases are in B.C. and there is one case each in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

Alberta Health Services declared an outbreak at the camp on April 16, when three workers tested positive for the virus. An outbreak is declared over after one month without any new cases.

On Thursday, Alberta saw an increase of 319 new cases, bringing the provincial total to 3,720. There has been a total of 1,357 recoveries.

There were two new deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 68.

vmcdermott@postmedia.com