The chief of an isolated B.C. First Nation community says his community is facing a surge of new COVID-19 cases. His warning: for many, the pandemic is not over.
As the heart of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation, the 350-person community of Klemtu lies about 500 kilometres north of Vancouver. When the pandemic arrived, visits came to a halt and its eco-tourism industry took a big hit. Now, the community is seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases.
“One little baby was pretty sick two days ago and had to get medevaced out,” Doug Neasloss, chief councillor for the nation, said Thursday. “The community is very worried.”
He says at first, the helicopter struggled to land through bad weather, but a medical team was eventually able to evacuate the child. The mother was not available for comment and remains with her baby in hospital. It’s not clear how the baby is doing.
Even though the province has begun to drop mandates, Neasloss says the nation’s leadership is keeping the village locked down.
That’s meant those living in apartments remain masked and many residents are trying to isolate at home.
On March 11, the nation’s leadership posted a community notice on one of its social media channels stating mask mandates would continue despite the province's move to lift the measure. Anyone visiting the band office, post office and community hall was told to mask up at all times until “there are zero cases in the community.”
Over the next week, daily bulletins posted to the community’s Facebook page indicated a case count rising to 15 as of March 16.
On Thursday, another cluster of nine cases popped up, said Neasloss.
“It can spread like wildfire,” warned the chief councillor. “We have a pretty high elderly population and a number of youth.”
“We expect that might go up.”
Glacier Media asked the Ministry of Health what it’s doing to support the people of Klemtu and if other First Nations are facing similar COVID-19 surges. A spokesperson said it wouldn't be able to respond until Monday.
