COVID-19 community spread, lack of publicly available data have Martensville residents on edge

Residents of Martensville, Sask., are feeling a bit nervous about the spread of COVID-19 in their community, but no one knows exactly how bad it is because of a lack of publicly available data.

Last weekend, Dr. Jasmine Hasselback — a medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority — met with a local doctor and officials in the city, just north of Saskatoon, to discuss an increase of COVID-19 cases.

"The cases have gone from a few cases that were easy to contact trace and contain to a large number of complex cases with numerous close contacts," a health authority spokesperson told CBC News via email.

"Dr. Hasselback is very concerned about this trend and has asked for the town's help in getting messaging to its residents."

According to a Nov. 13 Facebook post by Martensville Collective Health and Wellness, the local health-care facility, Hasselback said the pace of community spread indicates there are a number of factors that allowed the coronavirus to transmit so quickly.

Those include overlapping social bubbles and situations where the virus could infect many people in a short period of time.

The exact number of cases in the community is unknown. The province releases its COVID-19 data by region, but because of its proximity to Saskatoon, all data from Martensville is lumped into the Saskatoon area. The region currently has the highest number of active cases in the province.

There have, however, been several COVID-19 exposures reported by the Saskatchewan Health Authority in Martensville over the last three weeks.

There was exposure at the Martensville Curling Club Men's League on Oct. 28, and at the Martensville Sports Centre on Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and Nov. 6. 

Martensville Collective Health and Wellness also closed its door on Nov. 13 because staff were exposed to a confirmed positive COVID-19 case.

It reopened Wednesday, because the risk of exposure was deemed low for most staff members, according to a Facebook post from the health facility.

Potential COVID-19 exposures were also reported at the Martensville Co-op Grocery Store on Nov. 3 and Martensville High School on Nov. 11.

Residents nervous of spread

News of significant community transmission has rattled some residents in Martensville, a small city of roughly 10,000.

Kim Randall, executive director of Lutheran Early Learning Centre, has noticed community members are more wary.

Some parents seem to be more hesitant to drop off their children at daycare, and some staff members are a bit nervous from "not knowing exactly how serious the case number is within the community," said Randall.

Meanwhile, some businesses and organizations have acted pre-emptively to avoid adding to the spread.

The Martensville Minor Hockey Association suspended all events sanctioned by minor hocky, including team building, dryland training, practices and games. The goal is to resume once December roles around, but that depends on the COVID-19 case level in the community.

Bravo Dance Company, which offers dance classes in the city, also chose to shut down for two weeks.

"It was a really difficult decision," said owner Meagan Barabash, who consulted her 14 staff members about a plan of action last weekend, after learning of the significant community transmission.

"We knew that we had to somehow hit pause because of how quickly [COVID-19] was spreading throughout the community."

Prior to last week, there was little known presence of COVID-19 in the community, she said, but "it's like it blew up overnight."

From what Barabash can tell, the community has been shaken from its "small-town mindset" and people are showing more concern for the well-being of others.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority advises residents to follow current public health orders, reduce their social bubbles, wear a mask whenever they leave home, work from home if possible, and consider how to help others stay safe, the spokesperson said.