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Union confirms death of worker from Olymel plant

An investigation by the UFCW 401 local has confirmed another death connected to the outbreak at the Olymel meat processing plant in Red Deer.
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The union representing workers at the Olymel meat processing plant in Red Deer confirmed the death of a worker on Wednesday. (Advocate file photo)

An investigation by the UFCW 401 local has confirmed another death connected to the outbreak at the Olymel meat processing plant in Red Deer.

A union spokesperson confirmed it was a plant employee who has died.

“We can confirm that there has been a fourth fatality that has been connected to the Red Deer plant, our investigation, which is ongoing, has revealed in this instance, it was a worker,” said the union spokesperson.

Alberta Health said in an email statement Wednesday that there have only been two deaths linked to the outbreak. On Friday last week, the agency had reported there were three deaths connected to the outbreak.

In the Wednesday statement, Alberta Health said that outbreak investigations are public health processes that involve ongoing assessment and can change as “new information emerges throughout the investigative process.”

“In this case, it would appear one of the deaths has been de-linked to the Olymel outbreak,” said an Alberta Health spokesperson in response to a question about the different number of deaths being reported.

As of Wednesday, there were 515 COVID-19 cases connected to the Olymel outbreak, with 78 active and 435 recovered. On Tuesday, the plant had 91 active cases.

Olymel announced plant closure on Feb. 15, in the wake of a COVID-19 outbreak and some workers returned to work on Wednesday.

Alberta Health Services declared an outbreak at Olymel in mid-November.