Ryan Meili, leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, tested positive for COVID-19, shortly after tweeting about how the disease sent his four-year-old son to hospital.
Meili tweeted a photo of four rapid tests on Wednesday, stating he was the last to test positive in his family and he had few symptoms.
He was responding to his own tweet thread dedicated to his son Gus’ status. Gus contracted the virus on Thursday.
Meili was not available to comment.
On Monday he tweeted that he had spent the day in a pediatric emergency room with his son, Gus, who woke up crying in pain with viral myositis.
Viral myositis, “is an inflammation of the muscle, and it liberates a product in the blood that can be toxic for their kidneys,” according to pediatrician Dr. Mahli Brindamour, who is also Gus’ mom and married to Meili.
The ER Gus was taken to is in Jim Pattinson Children’s Hospital, which is one of the spots where Brindamour works. She said she wasn’t well enough to take him to hospital, because she was also sick with COVID, but told Global News it was a new experience to know it was her child in the emergency room.
“I know that kids can get very, very sick from COVID because I’ve seen it in the hospital and this is what the literature shows us and the numbers that we have,” she said, adding she was worried for the worst as a parent and doctor.
Epidemiologist Nazeem Muhajarine said children, even those too young to be vaccinated, appear to be resilient when catching the virus. But they can still suffer complications — and long COVID.
“It is very much within the realm of possibility. And that is again why we say this is no joke. COVID hasn’t gone away,” he said.
He stressed people old enough to wear masks should wear them.
“We cannot ignore (COVID-19),” Muhajarine said.
“And how we learn to live with it is by keeping ourselves and everyone safe, doing it together rather than just actually turning a blind eye.”
Brindamour said the whole family is now feeling better than they were and mostly just experiencing headaches and fatigue.
Gus proved that, interrupting the interview several times by striding into the room to visit his mom.
Brindamour said the family will continue to isolate until they test negative and feel better.