The coronavirus outbreaks in northern Saskatchewan are likely not the last the province will see as the pandemic continues, according to the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN).
The union said “isolated outbreaks” don’t mean that rules and restrictions aren’t working.
“COVID-19 doesn’t look at a barrier, it’s traveling south,” said union president Tracy Zambory.
“This is our reality, and the reality of a virus is that it will go dormant, it will reappear, it’s like the regular influenza. They go dormant, they come back active.
“Sometimes it’s just the environment they’re in and they find a home and they just go crazy.”
Zambory said the union can’t predict where COVID-19 will appear next, but it says viruses often spread through those who aren’t showing symptoms and don’t know they even have the virus.
Continuing to follow social distancing rules and keeping up good hygiene like washing your hands is vital to control the spread, Zambory said.
She also stresses the importance of staying home and self-isolating if you’re sick, and to call 811 and get tested.
By now it sounds like a broken record, but Zambory said, unfortunately, they’re inconveniences people will “just have to live with.”
“We cannot live in a heightened state of anxiety, that is not sustainable,” she said.
“Nor should we just throw the doors open and say, ‘To heck with all these rules, I’m just going to live my life.’ We have to find that middle ground.”
The union says how Saskatchewan responds to the northern outbreak in communities like La Loche will help shape its response to more down the line.
