Northern communities on James Bay coast working to lower COVID-19 cases

The number of COVID-19 cases in communities on the James Bay Coast has dropped dramatically since a surge last month.

As of Friday, the Weeneebayko Health Authority said there were 22 active cases in the region. That's a significant drop from a month ago when health officials had reported more than 170 activecases of the virus.

On July 9, Moosonee was able to declare itself COVID-free, when it was down to zero casesof the virus in the community.

"Everybody is still taking this seriously," says mayor Wayne Taipale. He's relieved citizens have acted and continue to act-responsibly.

"The whole community has chipped in. You don't see a lot of people on the streets or big crowds in the stores or anything," he said.

"Everybody is still really really concerned about this and participating to get it cleared right up."

Taipale doesn't think there's a high chance of people bringing the virus back in from other coastal communities.

"There is a possibility, but we're not really that concerned. Again, this is a time of year we don't have the remote communities come to Moosonee as much as normal."

WAHA stated that as of Friday there were 18 active cases in Kashechewan, one in Fort Albany, and three in Attawapiskat. There have been more than 660 cases in the WAHA catchment area since the pandemic began.

Despite the significant drop in cases,WAHA confirmed in a news release over the weekend that one person died recently from COVID-19 in Kashechewan First Nation. No further details have been released.