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Updated Public Health Measures

For immediate release

(Kahnawake – 8, Enniskó:wa/March 2022) The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre Public Health Department and the Public Safety Commission wish to update the community on the current Public Health Measures as per Directive #65 under the Kahnawà:ke Emergency Preparedness Law.

Current Public Health Measures as per Directive # 65

These measures are for the general population.  Each essential service organization may have their respective case and contact management strategies that differ from the general population.

CASE AND CONTACT MANAGEMENT:

The testing site in Kahnawake is only currently available to essential service workers and people who are being admitted for surgery and have been requested to provide a negative test result prior to admission. However, community members can access PCR testing at testing sites in surrounding communities (ex. Chateauguay, Kirkland, Lachine). 

If you have COVID-related symptoms, you must assume that you have COVID-19 and isolate according to the following guidelines: 

CASE MANAGEMENT:
 

If you have COVID related symptoms and/or are positive from a rapid test and you are vaccinated (2 doses or more) 

  • Isolate for 5 days 
  • On day 5, if you no longer have symptoms or your symptoms are lessening, and you have not had a fever for 24 hours, you are released from isolation but must take precautions for the 5 following days by: 
  • Continuously wearing a medical-grade mask in all areas 
  • Maintaining a 2-meter distance or more from others at all times 
  • Avoiding all vulnerable people 
  • If you are returning to work, you must work away from all others and not share any common spaces 

If you have COVID-related symptoms and/or are positive from a rapid test and not vaccinated or vaccinated with 1 dose: 

  • Isolation time remains at 10 days 

CONTACT MANAGEMENT: 

DEFINITIONS: 

High-Risk Contact: A household contact or a sexual partner 

Moderate Risk Contact:  A contact for more than 15 minutes, less than 2 meters, where one of the two people was not wearing a mask or both people were not wearing a mask. 

Low-Risk Contact: A contact for more than 15 minutes, less than 2 meters, both with medical-grade masks 

Adequately Protected:  a person who has, since December 20, 2021 had one of the following:

  • A positive PCR or rapid test result
  • A high-risk contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case

Adequately protected people do not need to isolate in the case of a high-risk contact except in the case of fever; a person with fever should isolate and only resume activities once 24 hours have passed with no fever.

Partially Protected: a person is vaccinated with 2 doses or more or COVID-19 positive prior to December 20th 2022

If you are a contact of a positive case: (isolation period starts on same day as positive case)

  • A high-risk contact must isolate for 5 days. If no symptoms develop – released from isolation but must self-monitor for symptoms from day 5-10.  If you develop COVID-related symptoms at any point, you must assume that you have COVID and begin the isolation period as described above in the CASE MANAGEMENT section. 
  • A moderate risk contact must self-monitor for symptoms for 10 days, must wear a mask continuously, maintain a 2-meter distance and remain away from vulnerable people. 
  • A low-risk contact must self-monitor for symptoms for 10 days and follow regular public health measures 

Masking:

Masking remains an effective way of preventing and/or limiting COVID-19 transmission.

• Masks are still mandatory in all indoor public settings (example: pharmacy or grocery store)

• Masking is recommended in outdoor, public and private settings (example: outdoor rink, small family gathering)

• Masking in office spaces of community organizations is recommended, especially when 2-meter distancing cannot be maintained or where there are no protective barriers (plexiglass, dividers).  Examples are: meeting/conference rooms in organizations such as MCK, KMHC or KSCS; group offices.  Masks remain mandatory in all common areas when moving from one area to another.

• Public Health recommends that individuals use their judgement, knowledge and education, and acceptable level of risk when deciding about masking in their personal indoor and outdoor home environment

Distancing:

  • 2-meter distancing is recommended in indoor and outdoor public settings
  • 2-meter distancing is recommended in common spaces of community organizations

•    2-meter distancing is recommended in outdoor public and private  

     settings and especially if you are a vulnerable person whether   

     vaccinated or not

  • Public Health recommends that individuals use their judgement, knowledge, education and acceptable level of risk when deciding about distancing in their personal indoor and outdoor home environment

Ventilation:

  • Ventilation is important. Air out rooms every two hours by opening all windows in private areas or your home when gathering with people outside your household.
  • Use of HEPA filters is beneficial

Hand-washing, distance, proper ventilation, masks, testing (rapid tests and PCR tests), staying home when sick, vaccination, isolation, limiting our contacts, taking care of the well-being of our loved ones and ourselves, are all ways to move towards a state of normalcy. 

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Directive 8 – Restaurants, Cigar Loungers, Social Clubs & Bars | Gaming | Indoor and Outdoor Private Gatherings | Halls | Sports | And More…

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Registering a COVID-19 vaccine received outside of the province

(Kahnawake – 27, Tsothohrhkó:wa/January 2022) The Kahnawà:ke COVID-19 Task Force (‘Task Force’) wishes to provide Kahnawa’kehró:non with some important information for those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine outside of the province of Quebec.

If you have received a COVID-19 vaccine outside of Quebec or Canada, you will have to register with Quebec, in order to upload proof of vaccination to your vaccine passport (VaxiCode App).

To register your vaccine information, you will be required to visit a Quebec Vaccination Centre outside of Kahnawà:ke.

Please follow these steps:

  • Visit the Clic Sante website by clicking here
  • Under “Select a service” click on “Choose a Service” and select “COVID Vaccine – Troubleshooting”
  • At the bottom of the pop-up window to the right side of the screen, select “Choose this Service”
  • Enter your postal code and click on “Search”
  • A list of nearby Quebec Vaccination Centres will be displayed.
  • Select a location and click on the “Show More” button and select “vaccines received outside Quebec”
  • Click on the “Book”

Please note, this information is being provided as a service to community members. However, the Task Force and the Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre are unable to register COVID-19 vaccines, including those received outside of the province. For more information, please click here.

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Suspension of COVID-19 daily stats

Posted Monday January 10th – 3:45pm

The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre and Public Safety Commission wishes to advise the community that, due to the current priority for COVID-19 PCR testing in Kahnawà:ke (and the rest of Quebec), it is not possible to provide daily updates on positive cases and related statistics at this time. This is due to the fact that COVID-19 testing sites are no longer providing tests to the general population, and we are unable to determine the number of active cases in the community.

Please note, although one of the priorities listed by the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services is for First Nation communities, this priority is in reference to remote First Nations communities and not Kahnawà:ke.

For all the latest information on COVID-19 news, current measures and restrictions, please visit the Kahnawake 911 website.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

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Booking your COVID-19 Vaccine via Clic Sante

The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre (KMHC) and Public Safety Commission would like to update Kahnawa’kehró:non regarding technical issues some people have been experiencing when trying to book an appointment for a COVID-19 Vaccine via the Clic Sante portal. Some users may get an error when trying to submit the completed form, which may be the result of not checking off certain medical information, or category you may fall under (see example below).

(Screen shot of website selection options)

If you DO NOT fall under any of the aforementioned categories, please select “I am an adult who has a chronic disease of health problem that increases the risk of complications from COVID-19.”

As communicated to the community previously, please book your appointment through Kahnawake911, which is the preferred method to secure you COVID-19 vaccine/booster.

We will continue to monitor the situation and update the community as required. Clic Sante is operated independently of the KMHC.

We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding.

Click here to view PDF

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Public Health and testing sites are overrun

Public Health and testing sites are overrun.  All COVID-19 services within Kahnawà:ke and outside of Kahnawà:ke are unable to respond to demand at the current time. Here is important information to assist you in making a decision about your response based on today’s most up-to-date Public Health information (this can change quickly):

If you have received a positive result using a rapid test:

  • You must isolate for ten (10) days from the first day of symptoms
  • All household members must also isolate for ten (10) days.
  • You must advise your contacts that they should also isolate for ten (10) days if you were not wearing masks during your contact and your contact was more than ten (10) minutes

If you are a contact of a positive case outside of your household:

  • A high-risk contact is someone who is within two (2) meters for more than ten (10) minutes without a mask
  • If you are a high-risk contact of someone who received a positive COVID-19 result by rapid test or PCR, you MUST self-isolate for ten (10) days.  If you develop symptoms only (do not test if you have no symptoms), please do a PCR test.  If you are unable to do a PCR, please do a rapid test.
  • You must remain in isolation for ten (10) days no matter the result of your test if you are a high-risk contact of a positive case

Click here for the Home Isolation Procedure. Our main goal at this time is to work together to protect the community, our most vulnerable loved ones, and our essential service organizations

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IMPORTANT NOTICE – New Procedures for Public Health Effective Immediately

As of today, (Tsothóhrha/December 21st, 2021) 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.