SASKATOON -- On Friday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said more than 100 staff members have expressed interest in joining the effort to contain a COVID-19 outbreak in the province's north.
While the province reported just one new case of the virus in the far north on Thursday, 50 of the province's 88 active cases were concentrated in the region and two La Loche long-term care residents have died from the virus.
As numbers of COVID-19 cases climbed in the province's north, the SHA began canvassing for nurses, respiratory therapists, paramedics and environmental service specialists willing to work in the north over a month-long period ending in late May.
“Thank you to our staff who have already answered the call earlier this week for help in the area. We have had over 100 staff express interest in supporting the response,” SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said in a news release.
The staff will help support the effort already underway to increase testing and contact tracing in La Loche and Clearwater River Dene Nation, the SHA said in its release.
The additional staff are being pre-screened, interviewed and assessed before being assigned to the north, the SHA said.
Some of the additional staff will arrive as early as Friday according to the SHA, with more expected to arrive over the weekend.
