As of Nov. 11, there were 52 confirmed cases with 32 active in LLRIB communities. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Pandemic

Coronavirus cases rising in LLRIB communities

Nov 12, 2020 | 5:24 PM

Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) Chief Tammy Cook-Searson believes the rising number of coronavirus cases in her communities reflect what’s happening across Saskatchewan and the country.

“The second wave is really coming and hitting our communities hard,” she said. “It’s something we have to deal with and encourage people to stay home as much as possible and keep practicing social distancing, wearing masks and washing their hands. Those are things we have been encouraging people to do since March.”

Coronavirus cases have steadily risen in LLRIB communities with 33 reported on Nov. 4 and 53 cases reported on Nov. 11. Currently, Little Red River has the highest number of active cases at 16, followed by Stanley Mission at 14, La Ronge (156 and 156B on-reserve) at four and Sucker River at one. So far, 18 individuals have recovered.

The provincial government is expected to release new public health orders Friday in attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. As of Nov. 12, there are 1,459 active cases in Saskatchewan with 44 in the Far North Zone, which includes in La Ronge and the majority LLRIB communities.

“We have our local nurses who work in public health and they are the ones who do contact tracing,” Cook-Searson said. “If they get notification of someone testing positive, from there they do contract tracing right away. They contact the people as quick as possible.”

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The LLRIB has been receiving support from individuals to senior levels of government as the coronavirus pandemic continues. There’s been financial support from Indigenous Services Canada and First Nations and Inuit Health, as well as donations of personal protective equipment from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nation.

Also, in recent months, hunter Jarret Nelson donated a moose and close to two hundreds ducks, while Freshwater Fish gave away enough product to feed more than 6,000 band members.

“It was a surplus program Freshwater Fish has, so whenever they have fish leftover, they empty their stock so they can buy more from the commercial fishermen,” Cook-Searson said. “People really enjoyed that. We have also been providing fish to our off-reserve band members.”

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the LLRIB also continues to work with the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority, Prince Albert Grand Council and Saskatchewan Health Authority.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @saskjourno