Doctors at the Sun Peaks Community Health Centre want residents and guests to notify the clinic if they test positive for COVID-19.
Medical Director Dr. Shane Barclay says his team would be grateful even if the person who tests positive is not a registered patient of the clinic.
“Contrary to what some people think, Public Health does not notify us when there is a positive case in Sun Peaks. We are only ‘notified’ if a registered patient goes down and has a swab and we then get the results,” he said, noting any information collected would be kept confidential.
“Sun Peaks is a small, closely connected community and I actually believe we have a much better system to contact trace than public health.”
Barclay is also echoing comments from public health officials to not gather in large groups, regardless of the occasion. As it stands, an order from Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry limits the number of people who can gather in a house or vacation home to no more than six visitors plus the people who live there until further notice.
“We are all looking forward to the ski season. If we get a substantial COVID-19 outbreak up here, none of us will be skiing and businesses will close again for the season,” Barclay said. “We all know how tragic that was last March.”
“And keep those masks on, social distance and act responsibly.”
Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine says officials in the resort municipality will be enforcing all of the provincial health orders that are in place. He is asking owners of vacation rentals to ensure that their guests are following the rules from Dr. Bonnie Henry.
“I think the issue that we are trying to prevent is making sure there are no parties where there is going to be an outbreak of COVID-19. Our goal here is to really make sure that people are aware that there are $2,000 fines if you go against the regulations,” he said on NL Newsday.
“Our goal is to have everybody come up and enjoy themselves skiing, families have a great time, but we don’t want to see COVID-19 popup here or get into a situation where we would have to close down or introduce much tighter restrictions.”
In addition to the $2,000 fine to party hosts or property owners, Raine says there is also the possibility of a $200 fine for people who refuse to leave these properties when asked.
