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By Glenn Hicks

COVID-19

Southend COVID-19 case: NITHA says community risk remains low

Mar 15, 2020 | 12:19 PM

The presumptive COVID-19 case in the northern community of Southend will put a strain on health services there, but the Northern Inter Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) said plans were underway to bolster staffing numbers. Meanwhile, it said the risk to the community was still low.

On Saturday NITHA confirmed the presumptive case of a resident and local health care worker who had a recent history of travel in Nigeria, Germany and Alberta. The person, in their 30s, had developed symptoms, had self-isolated and is reported to be “well.”

Medical Health Officer Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka told paNOW on Sunday colleagues who had been in contact with the positive case had now gone into self-isolation, although he could not confirm the numbers.

“The nurses that were in close contact with this particular case are currently self-isolating, so we are confident no other person within the health team in Southend has not taken any preventative measures for transmission,” he said. “Obviously when a health care worker is in self-isolation that definitely puts a strain on the nursing capacity, however efforts are underway to …be able to deploy additional staff.”

A file photo of NITHA’s Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka shown at a previous event. (Twitter/Nnamdi Ndubuka)

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The case in Southend is presumptive until the positive test taken in this province is confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg. It was one of a total of four new presumptive cases reported Saturday evening – the other three in Regina are all related to travel outside this province – bringing the total number to six. Prince Albert will open a COVID-19 testing centre on Monday.

When asked how the community of Southend should respond to news of the positive case, Dr. Ndubuka said Public Health was doing all in its powers on containment and people should remain calm.

“All those who came into contact with this individual have been identified, notified and advised to self-isolate,” he said. “Those showing symptoms have been swabbed and we await the test results.” He said positive tests took about 48 to 72 hours to be confirmed by Winnipeg.

“We don’t want people to panic; measures are in place to ensure there is no further transmission and the message to the community is they should be vigilant…and most importantly practice self-hygiene, such as proper hand-washing and social distancing – no handshaking and no hugging- and avoid non-essential travel.

“Right now we are not encouraging people to leave their community. We encourage them to go on with their normal business and to practice self-prevention. Based on our risk assessment that we have conducted the risk is still very, very low.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @princealbertnow