PRINCE ALBERT -- On March 14, days before the province would ban gatherings of its size, Marg Clair was pitching in at the Lakeland Snowmobile Club Wilderness Rally Supper in Christopher Lake
The 70-year-old, who later tested positive for COVID-19, says she felt healthy as she handled tickets and cash during the event.
"Everybody thinks that you have to have a high temperature or breathing problems or something like that but you really don't," Clair said in an interview.
On March 25, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) issued an advisory for anyone who attended the supper in Christopher Lake to self-isolate and get tested for the virus.
On Wednesday, the province said 24 known cases of the virus can be traced back to the dinner.
Clair, who just wrapped up her period of self-isolation and is feeling "fine" said she wanted to share her story so people know you don’t have to have severe symptoms to be sick with COVID-19.
“I just wanted to make people aware that you don't have to be sick to have contracted this virus," Clair said.
The president of Lakeland Snowmobile Snowmobile Club Tom McKnight, said because there were no restrictions in place, organizers didn't see an issue with going ahead with the event.
On March 13, a day before the dinner the province banned gatherings of 250 or more people.
According to the SHA chief medical health officer for the area, Dr. Khami Chokani, the supper attracted somewhere between 110 and 130 guests, well below the threshold at that time.
It wasn't until March 18 that the province banned gatherings of over 50 people, a number that has now been reduced to 10.
“We were never ever told not to have the rally,” McKnight, who self-isolated but has since has tested negative for the virus, said.
--With files from Josh Lynn
