A southwest Saskatchewan town’s indoor swimming pool has been temporarily closed due to COVID-19.
The Town of Kindersley said a patron who was in the Kindersley Aquatic Centre 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from April 6 to 11 tested positive. The facility was closed on April 16 and is expected to reopen on April 26 after a thorough cleaning.
Mayor Rod Perkins said quick action was taken last week and staff were directed to self-isolate.
“After we received the call that this person had been exposed or had COVID … (Saskatchewan Health Authority) gave us their specific guidelines, which we immediately (implemented),” he said on Wednesday.
“We’re going to do deep clean before we reopen.”
Perkins said he was told through an unspecified person that there a lifeguard course held at the pool and one of the students, who were all from out of town, later tested positive.
“The advice I was given that one of the girls that was in the … course had been at that party (in the Maple Creek area) and subsequently came down with COVID, phoned our pool and said, ‘I’ve been diagnosed with COVID and I was in this course,’” Perkins said.
“It may not be 100 per cent accurate … That that was information I’ve been given. If it isn’t correct, my apologies to Maple Creek. That was what was said (to me).”
Perkins said the virus is everywhere and admitted Kindersley doesn’t have a perfect record.
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“It is what it is we … we closed down twice the town office too and we had one of our girls that got COVID a month and a half or two months ago, and they shut down for the same 10 days,” he said.
“It happens. I mean, this is a pandemic. It’s everywhere. Playing the blame game doesn’t really solve anything, I don’t think.
“I think we’ve been pretty diligent in our community here and certainly from our council and administration. We’ve been asking people to be diligent for a year here. Our case count has not ever been horrible.”
Perkins stressed vaccination and hailed the local clinic.
“Masking, social distancing and get your vaccines when you can … the only way you’re really going to beat this pandemic is by vaccination.
“I know we’ve had a clinic going here and it’s worked pretty well … we just got to keep forging ahead and hope the vaccines get here, that’s the main thing.”
There are no outbreaks declared in Kindersley as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the provincial government’s website.
Kindersley is approximately 185 km southwest of Saskatoon.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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