(Facebook/ Lakeland Tree Dodgers Snowmobile Club)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public Health

Lakeland event COVID-19 cases: reaction

Mar 26, 2020 | 11:14 AM

The President of the Lakeland Tree Dodgers Snowmobile Club said he learned about two cases of COVID-19, through social media.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said two people, including one who served at the rally supper on March 14th, have tested positive for COVID-19. Tom McKnight told paNOW he is not happy.

“Some of the members of our club have said we should leave this up to the health authorities to deal with but when I hear about it on a Facebook post, it doesn’t instill a lot of faith that the SHA has the capability to do that,” he said. “So we need to get this out to the people that were at the rally.”

McKnight acknowledged the club was “getting slammed on Facebook” for holding the event. He explained at the time, there were no confirmed cases in Saskatchewan, and up to 250 people were allowed at public gatherings. An estimated 110 people attended the recent rally supper.

“You know if we would have known that this would have turned into this, I guarantee you we would have cancelled it. If people are saying we don’t care about other people, they don’t know me,” he said.

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The Saskatchewan Health Authority is encouraging anyone who attended the rally supper to self-isolate. McKnight, who himself is in self-isolation, is getting tested today along with his son and his pregnant daughter-in-law. After the rally, McKnight said he travelled to B.C. to see some friends, one of which is suffering from kidney failure.

“You know how that makes me feel,” he said.

Dr. Khami Chokani, Prince Albert’s Medical Health Officer for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said the SHA only learned about the cases Wednesday afternoon, and responded right away.

“I think we did try to get the message out, having gathered together the facts and as soon as we could,” he said.

Chokani specified the SHA’s investigation was not related to the whole rally, but rather was focused just on the supper. Chokani could not say whether the server in question was someone working behind the bar, or someone walking through the crowd.

“We do know they were providing a service and it could have actually been a blend of the two,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

Editor’s note: A correction was made to the story to reflect the response to the event. paNOW initially incorrectly quoted McKnight as saying he received backlash at the time of the event, whereas he actually stated the club was getting recently “slammed” on social media.