IMPORTANT NOTICE – New Procedures for Public Health Effective Immediately

12/21/2021

As of today, Kahnawà:ke’s Public Health Team will no longer be calling contacts of positive cases.

Due to the global drastic increase in active cases both in Quebec and Kahnawake, immediate changes are required to manage COVID-19 cases and contacts.

Responsibility is being fully transferred to individuals. Community members can expect the following when identified as positive by a PCR lab test:

• once a positive case is identified by the laboratory, regional public health will contact the community member to advise them of the positive result
• the local (Kahnawà:ke) Public Health team will then be advised and will contact the community member to follow-up
• a member of the local Public Health team will assist the positive case in identifying their contacts
• the positive case will receive a generic letter for themselves, and for their contacts, that can be seen by clicking here
• the local Public Health team will no longer call contacts - it is now the responsibility of the positive case to advise their contacts and it is the responsibility of the person advised to self-isolate when required by following the letter provided to them. To view an example click here.
• Each community member must take action and be part of the solution

Reminders:

• testing sites are very busy. We are only getting results in 72 hours average. Please make sure to isolate until you get your result even if you are feeling better
• only get tested if you have symptoms - many testing sites are sending people home with a rapid test and told to come back only if positive to validate with a PCR
• a negative rapid test is not a certain negative. If symptoms persist, please get retested with a PCR test

Holiday Hours:

• The Kahnawà:ke testing site is open the following days over the holiday period:

• Wednesday December 22nd
• Wednesday December 29th
• Wednesday January 5th

• The vaccination site will not be open over the holiday period. The last day to schedule boosters before the holidays is Wednesday, December 22nd. No walk-ins. Please book an appointment through clic-sante that you can access through Kahnawake 911. Reminder: over 6000 people had their 2 doses in Kahnawake. We cannot vaccinate that many people with boosters all at once. Booster vaccinations will take several weeks to complete, and possibly longer.

Despite the fact that this is a busy time, the staff of the testing site and vaccination site absolutely need some time off over this holiday period in order to continue to provide service to the community. We thank you for being understanding and kind towards the staff who have given 100% percent of themselves to the community since day 1 of this pandemic. We also urge you to be kind to each other. Let′s make Facebook a place of joy and comfort and support rather than a place for lateral violence. We can all make the change. By supporting each other, taking care of each other, we can get through this 5th wave together.