Members of the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce heard directly from the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s representative about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Battlefords and around the province.
The SHA’s medical health officer for the region, Dr. Mandiangu Nsungu, was the guest speaker for the latest Chamber on Tap event held at Porta Bella restaurant Thursday last week.
The chamber resumed the series of networking events last month after a long hiatus due to the pandemic shutdown. This latest event saw some adjustments due to the continued stare of emergency, as Dr. Nsungu appeared by Zoom conference call.
The presentation took place before the major news broke that night that Donald Trump, his wife Melania and several members of his staff had tested positive for COVID-19.
In his presentation Dr. Nsungu cited a number of statistics showing the extent of the virus around the world, which showed over 34 million cases around the world and almost 160,000 cases in Canada.
Saskatchewan was seeing a smaller number of cases compared to Quebec, Ontario and some other provinces, with 1,927 cases in the province as of Oct. 1.
Dr. Nsungu pointed to a number of ways that businesses can contribute to pandemic efforts. Among the suggestions he provided in his presentation were the following:
Adherence to the public health order and other recommendations from public health authorities; facilitate and implement the following strategies including social distancing, mask use, hand hygiene and cleaning of surfaces; daily screening of workers before work and isolation of those with symptoms; and to promote influenza immunization.
“The principle should be that people who have symptoms that are compatible with COVID-19 should not be at work, and those people actually should be tested,” said Dr. Nsungu.
The arrival of flu season was also noted. Starting Oct. 19 flu shots will be available, and Dr. Nsungu cited the importance of businesses promoting influenza immunization.
“We don’t want the situation where people have both infections at the same time,” said Dr. Nsungu, who also noted flu symptoms tend to overlap with COVID-19.
He also noted the province has ordered 36 per cent more flu vaccine than last year in anticipation of higher demand.
