(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Healthy communities

‘The most important challenge we have is at the individual level’: COVID cases spike in NITHA communities

Oct 21, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The decision to impose travel restrictions or place a community on lockdown is at the discretion of the community’s leadership, according to the medical health officer for the Norther Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA).

The comment from Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka comes following a recent surge in cases in a number of the NITHA communities including Sturgeon Lake and Montreal Lake Cree Nation.

Ndubuka explained more than 70 per cent of the total 98 active cases reported have been linked to the Prince Albert Full Gospel Outreach Centre. Earlier this month Saskatchewan Health Authority declared a multi-jurisdictional outbreak of COVID-19 stemming from a series of outreach centre events held in Prince Albert from Sept. 14 to Oct. 4. At least 25 cases of COVID-19 have now been linked to the outreach centre.

“That has also led to significant outbreaks in all the jurisdictions, So as you can tell it has resulted in quite the significant resurge of cases within the northern communities,” Ndubuka said.

NITHA is the health service provider for communities within Prince Albert Grand Council, Meadow Lake Tribal Council, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. While the decision to impose restrictions falls on the shoulders of the respective chiefs and council, NITHA does provide a number of recommendations with relation to what measures can help prevent the spread of the virus including hygiene, cough etiquette, masking, and not to attend a mass gathering.

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“For birthday parties or funeral events we continue to encourage residents to connect with their local community health clinic, and we will work with them to plan those events in a safe way,” he said.

According to a Facebook post Tuesday from the Sturgeon Lake First, a member of the community had been “removed” and placed into safe isolation after breaching guidelines set out in the public health order.

“The individual will remain outside the community until medically cleared to return,” the statement said.

Chief Greg Ermine was not available to speak to paNOW. When asked to comment on the removal of the Sturgeon Lake band member, Ndubuka said the person who tested positive for COVID-19 disobeyed orders to self-isolate and attended mass gatherings. Ndubuka added when a person breaches protocol they are contacted first and issued a written warning.

“In most cases they do comply with the requirement and for the small percentage of people who still don’t comply, despite warning letters, we would go to the next stage of issuing a public health order which is enforceable by law,” he said, adding NITHA relies on the RCMP for assistance.

At the onset of the pandemic in March, a number of northern communities took steps to prevent the spread of the virus. Explaining that more than half of the NITHA member communities have had at least one confirmed case since then, Ndubuka said the communities as a whole have done a great job learning from mistakes and following protocols.

“The most important challenge we have is at the individual level. I think people have begun to let their guards down thinking that we are out of the woods. I think it’s important to let people know we have a collective and individual responsibility to maintain community safety,” he said

Ndubuka added further contact tracing is underway and encouraged people to work with local health teams to ensure they follow directions, adding that if a person is told to self isolate for 14 days they need to abide by it.

“We are in this together and we will overcome this common enemy,” Ndubuka said.

Response from Prince Albert Grand Council

Al Ducharme, Executive of Prince Albert Grand Council, advised paNOW leadership has been meeting weekly through teleconference with representatives from NITHA, as well as the RCMP and the province.

“We don’t want to see that kind of unnecessary travel happen and certainly now that [COVID] is in northern Saskatchewan, there may be renewal of more energy put into checking into those who coming in and out and ensuring essential services are operating well,” he said.

Ducharme said leadership did a great job over the past nine months minimizing the spread, adding the biggest challenge is the very nature of the disease and how it spreads. He believes the key to keeping communities safer will be the delivery of education about protocols.

“Not just once or twice but continually so that people hear it and it becomes second nature to them. Those are the kinds of things we should do and have been doing but we must continue to do,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell