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The announcement fulfilled some of the fears that have circulated in the oil industry since the coronavirus pandemic began: That there would be an outbreak among workers who live in close quarters at oilsands camps, doing hard physical work over long hours, and then fly or drive back to their families elsewhere in the country.

In March, there was a suspected positive case at the Borealis Lodge, a lodging site north of Fort McMurray operated by Civeo, a Houston-based company. But the worker who had fallen ill ending up testing negative for COVID-19.

The Kearl Lake project, owned by Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil Canada, has about 2,000 people working on-site, north of Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada’s oilsands region. On Thursday, the company said it had “completed contact tracing” among its workforce and asked more workers to self-isolate.

“We are committed to safeguarding the safety and health of our workforce and we are in contact with those who have tested positive to ensure they are supported,” said a statement from Simon Younger, vice-president of production at Imperial.

Photo by Handout/Imperial Oil

Fort McMurray Today, the local newspaper, reported at least one of the sick workers is in an intensive care unit. The Alberta government reports it is working closely with Imperial on the outbreak.

“We are doing everything possible to limit the risk of transmission,” Hinshaw said this week.

The outbreak has also raised concerns among residents of Fort McMurray that the oilsands workforce — largely commuter-based — could bring more cases of the virus to the northern community.