Hutterian Safety Council says message is simple: Continue working with SHA

The board chair of the Hutterian Safety Council is praising the work being done by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as an uptick of COVID-19 cases is seen in communal living settings.

“The SHA is making a lot of inroads and good progress with the communities. When there’s a report of 30 cases, that simply means the SHA are doing great work at getting access to the Hutterite communities and facilitating testing and helping the people on the ground,” David Tschetter said.

All 30 of the new cases reported in the province on Friday were in communal living settings. Of the 174 active cases in the province as of Friday, 108 were in those types of communities.

Tschetter said blips like that aren’t unexpected and show the work the SHA is doing within communities to provide testing.

“We’re urging the SHA to just continue being persistent and continue to educate and organize the community in such a way that they see the benefit to clear up these cases because the school year is coming up,” Tschetter said.

A back-to-school plan between the council and the government has been developed for the school divisions that have Hutterite communities in them, with the Chinook School Division having the most.

“My advice to (the province) was to reach out to all school divisions that have colonies within them and unify your plan so we bring consistency to all our communities. Once you have a draft, get it over to us, we’ll look at it and make sure it works while keeping the strictest protocols in place,” Tschetter said.

He said the draft that came back to them recommended mask usage.

“If there are schools where masking is beneficial, whether that’s due to class sizes or whether it’s activities that do require masking, I have no issue,” Tschetter said.

The plan still requires approval from the SHA but Schetter says it has been well-received thus far.

As Hutterite communities continue to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, Tschetter said the message to them remains the same.

“Work with public health authorities, protect your people and protect your communities. You protect your livelihood by protecting your people. The paranoia and fear (and) the demonization of testing is bad information, it holds no water. Simply continue working with public health authorities,” Tschetter said.