COVID-19 in Indigenous communities: What you need to know
CBC
A nurse from Beaver Lake Cree Nation says the community is on track to soon have as many COVID-19 cases as it did at the height of the first Omicron wave — even though there isn't a way to accurately tally positive cases now that testing protocols have changed.
"We're right at the beginning of a huge increase. I know that," said Danielle Bourque-Bearskin, who is the nurse manager at the Beaver Lake Health Centre.
She said the First Nation, which is 100 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, has been relying on people to use rapid tests at home, and those who test positive have the option to report to the band if they need assistance.
"The data of how many cases we have is really unreliable," said Bourque-Bearskin, who is from the community.
She said the First Nation has been able to mitigate case counts by keeping its indoor mask policy and testing band employees every day.
Bourque-Bearskin said the nursing centre recently had two staff members test positive for COVID-19. And there's been enough transmission in the community for the band to scale back working hours for all its employees to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
She said the First Nation's pandemic response team will continue to monitor the situation and is putting an emphasis on reducing the number of large-scale gatherings.
Indigenous Services Canada said, as of Wednesday, the department is aware of a total of 3,128 hospitalizations in First Nations communities due to COVID-19 and 693 deaths since the pandemic began.
According to departmental data, there were 2,782 active cases of COVID-19 reported in First Nations communities as of Wednesday. That's up by nearly 500 cases compared to daily figures reported March 24. Case numbers may, in fact, be higher as some provinces are limiting access to COVID-19 tests.
To date, Indigenous Services Canada said it's aware of a total of 14,461 cases in First Nations communities due to the Omicron variant: 8,515 in Eastern Canada and 5,946 in Western Canada. A total of 134 First Nations have reported cases of the variant.
The Nunavut government said that as of Tuesday, there were 90 active cases of COVID-19.
To date, there have been 3,531 confirmed cases in Nunavut, 3,435 recovered cases and seven deaths. Nunavut says 29,021 people have received at least two doses of the vaccine.
If you think you might have COVID-19, please consult your local health department.
This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.
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