Fear holding some back from testing, doctors say

Medical experts say they are fighting stigma around COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, amid worries it’s an unseen barrier preventing people from getting tested.

Saskatchewan Health Authority senior medical officer Dr. Julie Kryzanowski said some people are now fearful of reporting symptoms and seeking a test, and that some groups — like essential services workers, people from northern communities and Indigenous people — had been stigmatized.

“We should not judge people going to the testing centres,” she said.

“They are doing their part,” she continued.

University of Saskatchewan Indigenous Health professor Malcolm King said stigma needs to be recognized and mitigated as fast as possible to make sure people with symptoms are not afraid to report.

“No one wants to be identified as the COVID carrier,” he said in a previous interview with The Starphoenix.

Some, like Indigenous Services Canada medical health officer Dr. Ibrahim Khan, say the challenges are particularly great in small communities like First Nations because of fears people who test positive will be stigmatized or forced to isolate from their families.

Khan has extensive experience tracking down and stopping the spread of other infectious diseases, like syphilis and HIV, and said that stigma is a common thing that prevents people from getting help, especially in small communities where secrets can often be hard to keep.

“COVID-19 has a huge fear factor,” Khan said. “This is an issue across the board, not just in First Nations. But in a small community of 500 people, if you’re a positive case, it’s hard to keep that private.”

Luckily, stigma is a sickness with a cure.

Clearwater River Dene Nation

Chief Teddy Clark, whose nation had 27 confirmed cases of COVID -19 as of May 11, said there were initially fears in his community about the implications of a COVID-19 test.

But through an aggressive education and outreach campaign from local leadership and health officers, he said they’ve knocked that invisible barrier down, leaving him optimistic that the hard-hit region is beginning to turn a corner on COVID-19.

Khan said stigma is still a challenge in many First Nations in the province, exacerbated by language barriers.

In one case, he said there was a misconception that the test itself could spread COVID-19.

Like Clark, he’s optimistic a corner is being turned.

Khan said he and many in his team are working 15-hour days, seven days a week in an effort to scale up testing on First Nations. His goal is to double or triple the 2,302 tests recorded by ISC as of May 8.

In total, ISC has only recorded 35 cases on Saskatchewan First Nations.