Thirty-four new COVID-19 cases were announced by the Saskatchewan government, with 29 of those being in the far northwest of the province.
The La Loche Emergency Operations Centre Facebook page, NVLL & CRND Covid-19 Updates, broke down the numbers on May 4 with 68 confirmed cases in La Loche including 21 presumptive cases bringing the total in La Loche alone to 89 cases.
COVID-19 continues to spread to the surrounding area with Buffalo Narrows, Ile a la Crosse, and Jan’s Bay all have their first presumptive case, five cases in Beauval including one presumptive case, and English River Dene Nation remaining at six cases in their community.
Jennifer Ahenakew with the Saskatchewan Health Authority gave an update via the NVLL & CRND Covid-19 Updates and CHPN-FM in La Loche. Twenty-four additional staff have been brought in to assist with COVID-19 testing and contact tracing and Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency have secured a government aircraft to ship results to Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory. Public Safety has also helped with housing and transportation for the 24 additional staff that have been brought up north over the last few days.
When asked if the curve of positive COVID cases is on its way down, Ahenakew said no.
“It will not come down yet due to increased testing and contact tracing.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe; Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab; Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority; and Dr. Susan Shaw, Chief Medical Officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority were available to answer questions following the May 4 press conference in Regina.
Saskatchewan’s north has over 60 per cent of active cases in the province but it does mean an increase to testing and contact tracing, Moe said.
“We're finding those who have contracted the virus and ensuring that they have the opportunity to self-isolate, and when needed receive medical assistance.”
When asked if Moe thinks the Saskatchewan government has failed in any way to contain the spread of the virus, he said no.
“We've been working very closely not only with the community of La Loche, but with other communities throughout the north and in particular in the northwest, to ensure that we are supporting them in their initial initiatives to do what we can to stem the spread of this virus.”
Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili does not agree with Moe that the north is being taken care of during this crisis.
“It's clearly not under control when we see dozens of cases now in the La Loche area.”
Moe said the next number of days will see the provincial government work even closer with northern community leaders.
Despite the high number of cases, Dr. Shahab said there are still many success stories of community members working to educate each other to minimize transmission of the virus.
Ahenakew urges all northern residents to answer any “unknown caller” that may come up on their phone display as that could be Health Authority staff trying to contact them.
“There has been a backlog in contacting people with their results. Sorry about that, they are working to catch up.”
