An official with Saskatchewan Health says the province is working closely with northern communities as they look to take precautions against potential coronavirus or COVID-19 transmission.
Dr. Rim Zayed is a medical health officer with the Northern Population Health Unit in La Ronge.
She said communities have a lot of questions about whether they should move forward with or postpone upcoming events.
“We do a risk assessment based on who is attending, how many, is it a contained environment or is it open,” Zayed said.
On Thursday, Ile-a-la Crosse postponed its boarding school survivors gathering which had been scheduled for Friday.
The Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nation has also put on hold an upcoming Athabasca sector gathering, winter carnival and closed its local school for the time being.
Zayed said seniors are the highest risk group for transmission.
So, at present, communities are being advised to keep elders away from public events and gatherings.
“If we have risk assessment for mass gatherings, it is important that no one above 65 or anyone with an underlying (health) condition should really reconsider attending these mass gatherings,” she said.
On Friday, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Saqib Shahab ordered no public gatherings of greater than 250 people in one room are allowed to take place as the province assesses the coronavirus risk.
Gatherings of greater than 50 people that include anyone who has travelled internationally in the past 14 days, which includes the United States, are also not allowed to take place.
These changes are effective Monday.
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness transmitted by airborne saliva droplets and the virus host can live on common use surfaces.
As part of prevention, it is important to wash hands with soap thoroughly for at least 20 seconds, regularly clean common use surface areas and sneeze or cough away from people and into your sleeve.
Close contact such as shaking hands and hugging is also being advised to be avoided.
Symptoms are very similar to the common flu with fever and coughing.
Saskatchewan Health is recommending anyone with these symptoms stay home from work and refrain from visiting public places or events.
Sayed said for those who are experiencing these symptoms and have travelled internationally recently, they should go about getting an assessment.
Information on setting up an assessment can be obtained by phoning Saskatchewan Health at 811.
Sayed stressed it is important for those who think they may have contracted the coronavirus to first phone the 811 number prior to visiting a hospital or clinic so medical officials can take proper isolation precautions.
For those looking for general information on COVID-19, this can be found at the Saskatchewan Health website at http://www.saskatchewan.ca/coronavirus.
(PHOTO: Photo courtesy www.cdc.gov.)