Kahnawake back on Red Alert as COVID-19 cases spread among children under 5
Kahnawake is on Red Alert after active coronavirus cases spiked in recent days, mostly among children aged four to five – a demographic which, in large part, remains unvaccinated.
Four classes have closed across local daycare and preschool Step-by-Step Child and Family Centre and Kateri School, officials say, with more closures possible. At the moment, authorities have recorded 19 active cases, and 60 people remain in isolation.
There may be even more cases which haven’t yet been found, the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community’s health officials told CTV News, as the network strains to identify all possible contacts.
“We don’t know the magnitude (of the outbreak) until we get results,” said Natalie Beauvais, executive director of Step by Step.
While children at the daycare are separated by bubbles, “we have siblings and cousins and step-sisters and brothers in other classrooms,” said Beauvais, who spoke to CTV while isolating at home.
“We don’t know what impact there is on other classes,” she said. “We were told by public health that everyone should get into isolation.”
While there have been occasional outbreaks, Kahnawake has been able to avoid widespread infection since the pandemic began, despite being located across the river from Montreal.
“For over the past two months, we’ve been averaging about five (active) cases, give or take,” said Kahnawake Public Safety Commissioner Lloyd Phillips. “We came close to zero last week.”
But since this most-recent outbreak was identified, Phillips says public health is “overwhelmed with the sheer number of contacts” needed to be identified, calling the situation “alarming.”
“Due to a number of cases all at once, we're having a hard time with contact tracing and informing all the people who could be impacted,” he said. “And thereby, you could potentially have somebody who has COVID-19 and doesn't know it, and could be in the community spreading it.”
It’s that fear that prompted the community to declare the Red Alert – the highest level in Kahnawake’s urgency tier.
Under the red alert level, the community council “strongly recommends” social distancing, limiting gatherings to two households at a time, and wearing a mask around people from other households, both inside and out.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.