Shahab explains why northern outbreak and current southwest cases treated differently

After the recent jump in cases in the southwest and some of them being attributed to Hutterite colonies, some had been asking why no restrictions were being implemented similar to those that were put in the far north in May and June.

Dr. Saqib Shahab was asked on Tuesday and said the two contexts are very different.

Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, explained that in the far north there were several different communities with a population of more than 10,000 people and they were all interdependent for things like groceries and care.

“There was a need to have some way of managing transmission among those communities, and so there were some restrictions that the communities themselves actually wanted to be put in place in terms of who’s coming into the community,” said Shahab.

He explained there needed to be some control over movements to slow down transmission, especially in terms of young people moving around.

However, Shahab said the situation is different right now in the southwest. He said the Hutterite colonies are communal living situations which are very small – some with as few as 100 people – and he compared it to a large extended household.

Shahab explained that interventions have to be relevant to the context.

“Those communities (in the southwest) are working with public health to control transmission, and obviously if individuals need to seek health care they can and should,” said Shahab.

In June, when the first two Hutterite colonies had outbreaks, the province put out an advisory saying it was working with the Hutterian Safety Council (HSC). The release mentioned there had been challenges getting some communities to implement adequate COVID-19 precautions and abide by public health orders.

“Many Hutterites feel that their communities are isolated and thus are insulated communities. This creates a false sense of security in the face of the COVID-19, and HSC continues to work at dispelling this notion,” read the release.

It went on to say that some people had misunderstood after the outbreak was declared and thought that positive tests would lead to an economic shutdown of their communities.

“As a result, the Saskatchewan Health Authority experienced some resistance to COVID-19 testing at some Hutterite communities. While the vast majority embraced the leadership of the SHA and HSC, a small group has resisted intervention,” the release said.

In the recent outbreak, SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said the authority isn’t experiencing any difficulty.

Shahab said that, right now, the expectation is that if you’re in a community that has been identified or if you’re a contact then you’re going to isolate for two weeks, and the expectation is being met as far as he knows.

Shahab also made a point, several times, of warning against stigmatizing people or communities that have seen positive tests.

“There’s no place that’s safe and exposure can happen due to no one’s fault and when it happens it just has to be dealt with in a systematic way, and that’s what’s happening,” said Shahab.