EDMONTON -- An outbreak at Shepherd’s Care Greenfield has grown. There are 28 people living at the supportive living facility for people with dementia, eight have COVID-19. Last week, one person died.

Two of the 31 staff at the facility have also tested positive.

“The residents don’t remember they need to stay in their rooms for isolation, so we’ve deployed staff to the site to help support, “Lynn Haugen, who works at the facility, told CTV News Edmonton.

Shepherd’s Care says it has brought in eight extra staff members, banned non-essential visitors, and vamped up its cleaning measures to try to contain the spread.

They also said the source of the outbreak was a health care aid, who wore personal protective equipment and was screened, but didn’t feel any symptoms until after her shift on July 9.

“What we did was trace back to two days, but unfortunately she had worked those two days,” said Haugen.

Nine of the 19 declared outbreaks in Alberta right now are at long term care facilities or supportive living centres, including the Good Samaritan that now has 64 active cases, and 12 residents have died.

Ruth Adria is in charge of a volunteer group that advocates for seniors. She questions whether supportive living and long term facilities have adequate staffing.

“We get reports almost every day,” she said. “Especially since the COVID.”

“There is a lot of good compassionate care. But when there is failure to give good care, no one is help accountable.”

Shepherd’s Care says they do have enough staff at the Greenfield facility, and that they’re working with Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health daily.

They also say they’ve learned important lessons from a previous outbreak at their Kensington facility.

“We’ve added extra cleaning. We’ve increased the frequency of cleaning in high touch areas. We’re using a one minute kill product,” said Haugen.

The outbreak is happening as Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that the curve in Alberta is no longer flat. The province reported another 304 cases of COVID-19 since Friday, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 1,430.  

WIth files from CTV News Edmonton's Sarah Plowman