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(File photo/paNOW Staff)
COVID restrictions

Access to Montreal Lake ‘restricted’ to band members

Sep 8, 2021 | 4:32 PM

To prevent the further spread of COVID-19 within their community, leadership at Montreal Lake Cree Nation has ordered restricted access.

The measure, which was voted on by council on Tuesday, means access to the reserve is being restricted to band members only.

Staff and contractors who live off reserve will be permitted to enter once they take a temperature check. Band members who live on reserve can also come and go as they please but will also be subjected to the same types of checks. Anyone just passing through will not. Chief Joyce McLeod told paNOW the goal is to keep the community safe.

“There’s COVID cases all around the community,” she said.

As of the most recent update from the William Charles Health Centre (Monday), there were four households under isolation, and eight new positive cases for an active case count of 11.

Since the start of the pandemic, there’s been 105 positive cases identified on the reserve, and 94 people have recovered.

“I am really happy to say 94 per cent of our members are all vaccinated. They’ve had their first and second shots,” McLeod said.

McLeod did not know how many of the new cases had been vaccinated, explaining due to privacy protocols, a lot of information is being kept confidential.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

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