No New Cases in Kahnawake. Que-Ont Border Closing
Written by Paul Graif on 31 March 2020
There have been no new cases of Covid-19 in Kahnawake in the last 24 hours according to Lisa Westaway, the Executive Director of the Kateri Memorial Hospital (KMHC). As well there have not been any positive cases or suspect cases in the in patient portion of the hospital, nor at the Elders Lodge.
Meanwhile, provincial public health officials are closing the testing sites across the province for the next 48 hours to all except for those already in hospital and front line workers. It is to give the testing labs some time to catch up to the sheer volume of tests. As a result of the huge increase in the number of tests, the labs are unable to process all of the tests in the proper time frame. If they are not processed in that time frame it will compromise the validity of the tests.
However, certain groups will still be tested in Kahnawake: Essential service workers, which includes staff at the KMHC, the Fire Brigade, The Peacekeepers and at KSCS. Westaway says they have already conducted 60 tests at the Kahnawake site in a little over two days. There are three appointments booked for Wednesday and Westaway assured that those will be honoured.
The Quebec-Ontario Border will be closing tonight.
Kahnawake Peacekeeper Chief Dwayne Zacharie said it will only be open to Essential travel. That means service vehicles and those who are considered essential workers, those transporting goods, and conducting humanitarian work. You will be permitted to pass if it is a medical emergency or if there is no pharmacy near your home. Zacharie said it will be Police discretion at the checkpoints. He says that means it will be up to the officer at the checkpoint if you can pass or not.
Lloyd Phillips, the Commissioner of Public Safety said this will be our normal for the next while. “It will be about two weeks before we can give a prediction on how long this thing will last for. In the meantime, we have to maintain the course. The stronger the measures we take now, the less time we will be in the predicament,” Phillips said.
