(submitted photo/ NVLL and CRDN COVID-19 updates)

By Nicole Reis

CLEARWATER RIVER COVID-19

Clearwater River Dene Nation Chief says community is better informed to handle spike in COVID-19 cases

Jun 15, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Clearwater River Dene Nation is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases but the chief is confident the community can handle it.

Chief Teddy Clark told meadowlakeNOW the community now has a total of 15 active cases and could not determine exactly whether the new cases were all a direct result of a wake and funeral held last week. Prior to the wake, Clearwater River had not reported any new cases for nearly three weeks.

“We can’t really say exactly [if cases are] from the wake service itself. There are some cases that resulted from there,” he said. “I’m sure there are other sources that caused the outbreak so we cannot really pinpoint just the wake service.”

Since last week, Chief Clark implemented a complete lockdown of the community not allowing any one in or out of the First Nation. Some restrictions have since been lifted within the last few days, and residents are eligible to leave the Clearwater River once per day for essential services. Mobile door-to-door testing is also underway.

“We find that we’ve contained most of it already and everybody that is affected is in isolation,” he said. “To restrict mobility on everyone just puts a lot of hardship on people.”

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Restricting everyone’s travel poses a burden on those who need to be mobile, he said.

Security checkpoints are now talking about precautionary measures with members as they leave and providing personal protective equipment.

Chief Clark said it is certainly unfortunate the community is seeing a spike in active cases though he’s hopeful the outbreak doesn’t get out of hand. There has been some valuable lessons learned from the first outbreak and leadership is reacting quickly to developments, he said.

“I think people are very well educated now and they understand,” he said. “I can still see people wearing masks and physical distancing and that’s helped stop the [virus from] spreading as quickly as before.”

As of Sunday, La Loche reported 185 total and three presumptive cases. There have been 177 recoveries and three active cases remain.

Clearwater River Dene Nation reported a total of 36 and 13 presumptive cases with 32 recoveries. The Far North community is expected to see more cases arise in the coming days as a result of mobile testing.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722