Wagmatcook closes school amid COVID surge
WAGMATCOOK – A spike in COVID-19 cases in the island’s second smallest Mi’kmaw community has prompted swift measures by leadership to protect the most vulnerable community members.
The number of active cases in Wagmatcook reached 34 on Thursday, the highest the community of just under 700 residents has seen since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. At the beginning of the week, the daily case count reported for Monday was 14, with students making up almost half of the positive tests.
That is when the community’s COVID-19 committee decided it was time to switch students at Wagmatcookewey school to online learning at home.
“We’re doing this now just to be on the safe side and we’re trying to get the numbers back down again,” said Wagmatcook Chief Norman Bernard.
“The province has their own rules and we have our own rules. We have stricter measures in place here because we’ve got to safeguard our elders and our children and as a tight community, we want to get a hold on it before it takes off.”
CLOSURES
With infections continuing to rise through the week, Bernard announced on Wednesday that the community’s fitness centre and gaming facility would remain closed until further notice, and all community events are postponed. The Cleanwave restaurant is currently takeout only.
Bernard hopes the numbers will begin to decline in the coming days. The school, which goes from kindergarten to Grade 12 and has almost 200 students, is closed until at least May 23.
Wagmatcookewey School principal Marjorie Pierro said students were issued laptops and tablets and that both students and teachers were prepared to make the jump to virtual learning.
“The teachers know when they leave at the end of a day, tomorrow they may be doing e-learning, so they’ve adapted and that’s how we’ve been able to stay open,” she said.
Teachers have continued to report to work each day, and in addition to delivering lessons and preparing materials, they have had some extra tasks.
“One of my concerns closing the school was, what about those few kids who come to school to eat – their parents depend on that – so we put together grocery bags and had them for 10 families. There was milk, bread, rice, and the kids were so excited,” Pierro said.
EFFECTIVE MEASURES
An earlier bump in cases at the beginning of January saw daily cases in the 20s for almost a week before tightened restrictions brought the daily case count to between zero and three for the remainder of the month. Positive tests continued to stay low, with only a handful of active cases, until this past weekend.
While active cases are climbing, the daily case count has already gone back down, with five cases on Wednesday and three on Thursday. The community has had a total of 211 cases and 177 recoveries.
Across the country, there have been almost 107,000 cases of COVID-19 in First Nations communities according to Indigenous Services Canada’s most recent data from May 11, and just over 105,000 recoveries and 720 deaths.
The current rate of infection in First Nations communities is 51 per cent of the rate in the general population and the fatality rate of people living within First Nations communities is 65 per cent of the fatality rate of the general population of Canada.
Bernard said Wagmatcook’s COVID-19 committee monitors the case numbers every day and reports the daily case count, the number of active cases, and the number of recoveries to the community through its Facebook page every day.
“I get calls from elders every day asking me how we’re doing, how are the numbers, and they are pleased with measures that we’re taking,” Bernard said.
"We take this very seriously and if we need to make more changes, we will. We've got to make sure the whole community feels comfortable before we ease up, that's the big thing."
An update regarding a return to school plan will be announced on the community’s Facebook page on May 20.