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The number of known cases of COVID-19 active in the Northern Saskatchewan reservations is rapidly increasing.
According to the latest daily update from the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA), 225 people within its jurisdiction were infected with the virus on Wednesday.
It increased 112% from a week before November 11, when the authority reported 106 known active cases.
Chief Peter Beatty of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation – one of four regional indigenous groups served by NITHA – said living conditions in the north make containing the virus a “high-risk” effort.
“The overcrowding that is occurring on our reservations and every reservation in Canada – and the poor housing conditions we have in many units – contributes a lot to the fact that when people are told to isolate themselves, they should isolate themselves in their own home, which should have six to 10 to 15 people, “Beatty said Friday.
He was isolating himself in a cabin near Lake Deschambault after being told on Tuesday he was in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. Though Beatty himself tested negative – and learned of his results in about an hour, thanks to a COVID-19 rapid test kit – he was told to self-isolate for 14 days anyway, he said.
Beatty said the virus is also spreading as members are traveling to southern province hotspots, such as Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
The eight communities represented by Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation – Amisk Lake, Deschambault Lake, Kinoosao, Pelican Narrows, Prince Albert, Sandy Bay, Southend and Sturgeon Landing – are blocked. Beatty said only residents can enter and can only leave the community on set days.
Masks are mandatory in public places, as was the case “for quite some time” before the Saskatchewan government made law this week across the province, Beatty said.
Highest virus growth rate on reserves
NITHA publishes a daily map on its Facebook page showing the total number of cases, including the number of active cases, in the northern communities.
The map has five zones that focus on First Nations communities on the reservation within the authority partnership.
Some NITHA communities are not included in the provincial government community index, although there is an overlap between the daily reports of the two groups.
The growth rate for active cases in reserve reported by NITHA far exceeds the growth rate reported across the province by Saskatchewan health officials.
Active cases reported across the province by health officials increased to 5,651 from 4,437 during the same period, a 21% increase.
Highest test positivity rates in the North
New data released by the province on Thursday also shows that some northern areas of Saskatchewan recently published the highest new daily case rates and daily test positivity rates in the province.
The Far Northeast region, which includes the communities of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, had a positive test rate of 14.1% from November 11-17, meaning that 14% of the people tested in one day he was later confirmed to have the virus.
This is compared with a positive test rate during the same period of 8.9 percent in Saskatoon, the province’s largest city.
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