Young people in La Loche urged to be ‘responsible’
‘Do your part keeping your moms and grandmas safe this weekend,’ village says
REGINA Premier Scott Moe’s voice quivered on Friday as he uttered the word “mom.”
“Myself, like many others, will not be spending this Mother’s Day with my mom, or the mother of my children,” he said.
Moe asked Saskatchewan people to hold off on visits to vulnerable seniors this Mother’s Day. That goes, in particular, for the Northern Village of La Loche, which remains the centre of the province’s COVID-19 outbreak. The village posted a Mother’s Day warning to residents on Friday.
“We also urge you to do your part keeping your moms and grandmas safe this weekend by maintaining social isolation,” it posted to its Facebook page.
“Keep them safe by not gathering as large families this weekend.”
That comes amid reports that some young people in the community are not following public health orders or recommendations. On a related Facebook page used to update the community on COVID -19, the region’s medical health officer blamed drinking and congregating for the spread of the disease.
“The reason why we have a lot of spread is: People drinking together, sharing smokes, driving together,” said a statement attributed to Dr. Rim Zayed. “It is mostly young people who know they have low risk factors, but it is very harmful to others who are vulnerable.”
Though the SHA could not confirm the statement was correctly quoted verbatim, it agreed in a statement that alcohol abuse is interfering with its efforts to contain the disease.
La Loche and area was the site of 12 of 13 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Friday. Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said COVID-19 has hit “mostly young people” in La Loche. But their elders are most likely to face complications, to be hospitalized or to end up in intensive care.
There were 19 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across the province on Friday, the most of any day since the province began reporting hospitalization data. For the first time, Shahab revealed that two of the people currently in hospital are from the far north area that includes La Loche.
“We do expect to see some increase in hospitalization from the northwest,” he said.
Moe reacted to the reports about young people congregating and sharing items with a stern message.
“I would ask them to stop,” he said. “It does affect the elders that we love in our family, and so I would ask the youth in La Loche to take their personal responsibility very seriously.”
But Mayor Robert St. Pierre of La Loche has a specific request of the government. He wants it to close down the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority store in the village.
He said he forwarded that message to the minister of government relations this week.
He agreed that there have been gatherings, including some that might have cracked the 10-person limit imposed by public health order.
But the situation has improved, according to St. Pierre.
“We’ve got that all under control, I think, with the extra support from the RCMP and the conservation officers at the checkpoint,” he said.
Moe warned that there are “opportunities” for enforcement under public health orders for those who aren’t complying, though he hoped the RCMP would take a “phased approach.”
The RCMP were unwilling to provide information on how many calls relating to the public health orders they have responded to in La Loche, or on how many tickets they have issued.
In La Loche, some worried that the reports of people breaking rules could unfairly stigmatize the community.
“The community is getting a bum rap,” said Chai Daongam, part-owner and pharmacist at Centerpoint grocery and pharmacy in La Loche.
“Some might deserve it, but others don’t.
“This outbreak could have happened anywhere. I want to remind people there are real people living here beyond those headlines.”
Moe said he’s “quite confident” the checkpoints are effective in limiting travel from La Loche to other communities.
But it’s unclear precisely how many people from La Loche have left after coming into contact with infected individuals, either before or after the north was put under a travel ban.
The SHA said public health officials do keep track of contacts, but they don’t have a “compilation of data” about their current location.
The information is spread across different regions, though Shahab said public health officials are sharing the information to alert their colleagues whenever contacts move between communities.
But he acknowledged that contact tracing is becoming more difficult as households in La Loche could have 10 or 15 members, or even more.
“With larger households, and sometimes people have been moving around a bit, it becomes very complex.
“One person, if they went to three crowded households, may have 60 contacts, so it does get very challenging.”
This outbreak could have happened anywhere. I want to remind people there are real people living here. CHAI DAONGAM