(Submitted/(Northern Village of La Loche)

By Nicole Reis

FAR NORTH COVID-19 UPDATE

11 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, more recoveries in La Loche and surrounding area

May 4, 2020 | 6:34 PM

There are a total of 98 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the La Loche area, with 16 recoveries.

In a daily public health briefing on the local community radio station, La Loche mayor Robert St. Pierre was joined by Jennifer Ahenakew, Executive Director of Primary Health Care Northwest, Village Alderman Randy Herman and Clearwater River Dene Chief Teddy Clark and Leonard Montgrand, council member with the Metis Nation.

Ahenakew reported 68 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 with 21 presumptive cases in La Loche, five confirmed and one presumptive case each in Beauval, Buffalo Narrows, Jans Bay, and Île-à-la-Crosse. There are seven confirmed cases in Clearwater River Dene Nation and six at English River. Since reporting on Friday, a total of 11 new positive cases were reported over the weekend with presumptive cases included.

“Our team is also working on contacting many of the COVID-19 patients in the community to check on recovery numbers and we hope to be able to provide the numbers on recovery in your community in the near future,” she said. “We know that’s important and we know there are many community members who had COVID-19 and are on the road to recovery or are recovered.”

Ahenakew added there was a call out provincially for additional support for the team on the ground in La Loche for Public Health nurses and registered nurses to assist with contact tracing and testing .

Ripley Rumble cheques

Three organizations receive $20K cheques from Ripley Rumble

7h ago

Up and down weather

Hot temperatures to be followed by rain this week

10h ago

Former Bruins Enforcer

Nipawin born and former Boston Bruin Byers dead at 61

Jul 05, 2025

“As of today, we have 24 additional staff who have been redeployed to La Loche, there are more staff coming,” she said.” It’s important to note our initial focus is on La Loche as it is an epicentre of the outbreak but we are able to redeploy staff across the northwest as needed.”

Ahenakew explained five additional staff are remotely supporting contact tracing, therefore if the public sees an unknown telephone number, they are advised to answer as those individuals are likely providing testing information or provide results.

Testing

The GeneXpert testing machine at the La Loche Health Centre has limited a capacity as there is a limit on cartridges. Priority is given to those presenting in the ER who have severe or acute respiratory illness, long term care facilities or patients in long term care, and health care workers and first responders presenting respiratory illness.

“All other tests are now going to be sent directly to the Roy Romanow Lab as of today, as government aircraft have been secured from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency so we can get our tests and swabs to Regina the same day and get more rapid results.”

As far as contact tracing and testing, four registered nurses and three licensed practical nurses arrived in La Loche Sunday. There are now three teams doing mobile testing and home assessments and assessment in home and testing again. There is one team dedicated to drive-thru testing La Loche.

Also included are five public health nurses now on site and four remote primary care and CDC nurses doing contact tracing and a number of Registered Nurses calling on results. However, they are backlogged on calling in results.

La Loche specifically saw 58 swabs done yesterday with 13 case investigations underway and 27 additional contact investigations and their Emergency Operation Centre is also working on securing additional isolation units. Housing units are also being sourced for the 24 nurses deployed in the region.

Shipment of supplies arrived from Prince Albert of PPE and hand sanitizer and staff are being trained on proper and effective use of the protective equipment. A chart was also created in the event of an emergency to transport patients to other facilities if needed.

Possible sites are Meadow Lake, Île-à-la-Crosse, North Battleford or Saskatoon. The long term care facility is still not accepting new patients, in-patient or acute care due to staffing challenges.

Long term care

“Currently, staff who are working in long term care can only work in long term care. They are not able to work in other parts of the facility so that is challenging on a staffing side,” she said. “We’ve also had some challenges in the facility getting some of our workers back to work again from those self-isolation so there’s some additional environmental service workers coming in from out of town to help clean the facility in an enhanced way to ensure we’re cleaning based on infection protocols.”

Chief Teddy Clarke confirmed the Clearwater River Dene Nation has four people who have recovered from the virus bringing the community to three positive cases who are in isolation. The Saskatchewan Health Authority should have an accurate number of recoveries Tuesday. At least 12 have recovered in La Loche.

Mayor St. Pierre said approximately 60 more isolation units should be in the area by Wednesday and added leadership are examining ways to treat delicate issues such as long line-ups for goods and services.

Chief Clark added the community is seeing a positive trend of recovery and is happy with the majority of the community working together.

Leonard Montgrand said the roadblock on Garson Lake Road is manned by conservation officers and is planned to be up for a while.

“We’re bound by the Health Act and there are some stipulations in the act in terms of travel which will be addressed tomorrow,” he said.

—

nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722