COVID-19 case in Gillam prompts Fox Lake Cree Nation Bird reserve lockdown, calls for new travel ban – Thompson Citizen
August 24, 2020
The first positive test for COVID-19 in the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) area since April was reported Aug. 23.
The person who tested positive was a close contact of a visitor from the Prairie Mountain health region, who travelled to Gillam to visit family between Aug. 12 and Aug. 21. That visitor then learned that they were a close contact of another positive coronavirus case in the Prairie Mountain region, self-isolated from their family, according to an Aug. 23 social media post by Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman, and were tested for COVID-19 after developing symptoms. The visitor who tested positive did not visit any local businesses, according to Forman’s post.
The fact that a visitor to the Gillam area had tested positive for the novel coronavirus was made public by the Fox Lake Co-ordinated Response Team in an Aug. 21 Facebook post. They received the information about the traveller during a meeting with NRHA medical officer of health Dr. Michael Isaac and Pam Smith and Catherine Spreitzer of Indienous Services Canada. They said the traveller had not been in contact with anyone from Fox Lake Cree Nation’s Bird reserve, anyone on the Gillam urban reserve or Fox Lake members living off-reserve. They also said there were no contacts with employees of Manitoba Hdyro or its Keeyask generating station and that the risk of the public having been exposed to the virus was low.
