May 7, 202

COVID-19 BULLETIN #65

MORE ACTIVE CASES – STAY AT HOME ORDER EXTENDED

Tansi!

More Active Cases

Based on the test results so far we have a total of 4 active cases in the community. There are a total of 82 people in isolation so far. This current situation arose out of a violation of the isolation requirements in our OIC and Manitoba’s Public Health Order. Contact tracing is continuing but we anticipate there may be further cases. We still do not know at this time if one of the variants of concern are involved.

As indicated in Bulletin #64, we are starting to see community spread so if you are told to isolate you need to do that for the safety of all of us. There is no vaccine yet for our children and now they are being impacted. We owe it to all of them to get vaccinated and to follow the restrictions. The restrictions are in place to prevent illness and death. EVERY CASE WE HAVE HAD SO FAR IN THE COMMUNITY IS BECAUSE PEOPLE DID NOT FOLLOW THE RULES.

If you have ANY flu or cold like symptoms, call public health and get tested immediately – DO NOT WAIT even if your symptoms are mild.

In accordance with paragraph 32 of OIC 313-2021-6, the following restrictions will remain in effect until at least Monday, May 10th at 6:00 pm and FINES will be issued by the FNSO’s for violations of the OICs and the RCMP for violations of the isolation requirements under the Manitoba Public Health orders. The restrictions are as follows:

  • A strict STAY AT HOME order – this means everyone who has not been designated as essential;
  • All NCN offices including the NCN Government Office, will remain closed to the general public except for the Nursing Station, Wellness Centre public health and nursing services, and EMS;
  • ATEC, Arena, the Wellness Centre fitness Centre, the VLT Centre, the Beer Vendor, and home confectionaries remain closed;
  • Schools will remain closed until May 17th;
  • One person from each household that is not in isolation will be allowed to shop at Three Rivers Store and then must immediately return home. The store will be open Saturday, May 8th from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm and on Sunday May 9th from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm;
  • Deliveries of groceries will be allowed from our Thompson Family Foods store at no charge – our staff in Thompson will do the shopping and the Cube Truck will deliver the groceries;
  • The gas station will remain open for gas and essential items, subject to regular public health restrictions but only one person from each household is allowed to purchase gas for cars and trucks – NO gas can be purchased for snowmobiles, ATV, ARGO or motorcycles;
  • Funerals are limited to 10 immediate family only plus the officiants and choir – processions will be allowed as long as everyone remains in their vehicles at all times and they must NOT get out at the church – no-one from outside the community will be allowed to attend and the procession will be escorted by the FNSOs;
  • Hunting, camping, and harvesting are prohibited with the exception of goose hunting with prior approval
  • No persons including commuters will be allowed into the community without authorization from the Pandemic Response Team; ;
  • All trips into or out of the community for medical appointments, and medical emergencies approved by the Nurse in Charge or designate and goose hunting must be authorized by the Pandemic Response Team;
  • All persons who left the community overnight will be required to isolate at their
  • residence pending review by the public health team – EVERYONE WHO IS TOLD TO ISOLATE MUST ISOLATE UNTIL PUBLIC HEALTH TELLS THEM THEY DO NOT NEED TO ISOLATE. THIS IS CRITICAL TO PREVENT COMMUNITY SPREAD.
  • All requests from persons who previously signed themselves out of the community and wish to return are suspended until further notice.

Additional information will be provided as soon as contact tracing takes place. In the meantime, it is critical that everyone follow the rules and STAY HOME to give the health team a chance to get a handle on the extent of the issue.

Vaccination Clinics

  • Vaccination will continue at the Wellness Centre on Monday, May 10th but transportation must be arranged in advance – call 204-484-2341 or 204-484-2604 – those people who are in isolation must make arrangements with the public health team for their vaccinations;
  • Getting vaccinated will help to stop the spread of the virus – Canada’s target is at least 75% of the Canadian population so our lives can become more normal again, this percentage may need to increase due to the variants of concern;
  • As of today about 40% of the Canadian population have received a 1st dose – it is hoped that by September at least 75% of all Canadians aged 12 and up will be fully vaccinated;
  • NCN has currently vaccinated about 62% of our community and other people connected to our community so we still need more people to get vaccinated with both doses of Moderna and youth ages 12 to 17 with two doses of Pfizer;

We know this is all very frustrating particularly for those of us who are following the rules but we have to keep restrictions in place to try to keep our community safe. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated so that hopefully we can have some return to normal this summer. In the meantime, be kind and caring to everyone as we are all trying our best to keep our community safe. Ekosani!