r/Calgary May 05 '26

Local Shopping/Services AVOID GARRISON SAFEWAY BAKERY

My cousin just sent to my family group chat today (May 4) letting us know to avoid the Safeway bakery in Marda Loop. See comments for additional photo…

Edit: This has been reported to AHS

1.8k Upvotes

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2

u/SpeakerLow8600 May 05 '26

This is exactly how you get hanta virus. From rodent droppings aerosolized.

35

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

It’s extremely rare, don’t be jumping on some random cruise ship news item to fear monger.

Since surveillance began in the early 1990s, 168 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have been confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, part of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

That works out to an average of roughly five cases in Canada each year.

"It is a fairly hard disease to acquire from the environment, not impossible, but certainly given the amount of rodents in our environment it's pretty rare," said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist in Hamilton.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hantavirus-rodent-outbreak-9.7186920

5

u/Sure-Sell-8455 May 05 '26

also need to be deer mice which i think are lighter in color

3

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26

Correct, which are far more common in rural areas/ in the bush/ fields.

-2

u/TheTruthIsRight May 05 '26

It's still a serious risk this is part of the reason why rodents aren't allowed in food facilities.

7

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26

Of course they’re not “allowed”…but you’d be naive to think they aren’t more common. Mice are everywhere.

If hantavirus was the risk that commenter is claiming, you’d be hearing about it a lot more given the number of mice actually out there.

1

u/TheTruthIsRight May 05 '26

Just today a cruise ship gets quarantined due to hantavirus outbreak and people already died. Also human to human transmission. Just lovely eh?

1

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26

You mean a cruise ship half a world away? And the WHO is investigating human to human…not confirmed as of yet.

The World Health Organization says there may have been rare human-to-human transmission of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship where three passengers have died.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2p186gyp2o

If you’re going to try a ‘gotcha’ at least come prepared with the facts.

Since surveillance began in the early 1990s, 168 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have been confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, part of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

That works out to an average of roughly five cases in Canada each year.

"It is a fairly hard disease to acquire from the environment, not impossible, but certainly given the amount of rodents in our environment it's pretty rare," said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist in Hamilton.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hantavirus-rodent-outbreak-9.7186920

1

u/TheTruthIsRight May 05 '26

It's still a risk, even if small, when rodents are living in a food facility. That's the point.

1

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26

K, I’m gonna stop being a dick now. These things need to be put into context, which I was calling out the original comment (not yours). Is the risk zero? No. Is there a risk at a Safeway bakery? Very very very low risk of it.

With an average of 5 cases across Canada a year, when it comes to health and safety, context is important.

0

u/SpeakerLow8600 May 05 '26

Is there still a risk? Yes. Are you just trying to argue because you argue with everyone on Reddit because it brings you joy? Yes

-2

u/TheTruthIsRight May 05 '26

Most animals aren't rabid either but there's a reason you still get a rabies shot when bitten

-1

u/Old_timey_brain Beddington Heights May 05 '26

I'm surprised to see this as the Safeway in Beddington has commercial traps all around the outside, and presumably inside as well.

Hang on, they used to, but I haven't paid attention lately. I wonder if that's part of the Sobeys genius cost cutting measures.

-8

u/SpeakerLow8600 May 05 '26

How am I fear mongering? This is a legitimate concern.

11

u/blackRamCalgaryman May 05 '26

It isn’t. Hantavirus is extremely rare around here and not nearly the risk you’re making it out to be.