When Nicola Jones' five-year-old son lost a tooth last night, he wasn't sure if he should expect the Tooth Fairy to provide him his well-deserved reward.
Such is life in Pemberton after the municipal government confirmed on Saturday, March 14 that there were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 discovered in the community.
In an attempt to keep things as normal as possible at a time when playdates and other non-essential outings are off-limits, the overnight exchange was made and Jones' son received his payment, but his mother is well aware that might not be the case for all the village's children as uncertainty swirls in the community.
Jones, a science journalist and Pique contributor, said her family is in a "very fortunate position" since she's able to operate from home with steady, consistent work while her husband can take care of their two children—once he's recovered from his cold. It's clear, though, that other families are stuck in a more precarious situation.
"We're all a bit confused by the new state of life that seems to have quite suddenly changed," she said. "Some people, of course, are going to be really seriously struggling. There are people who are going from double-income families to single-income families because a restaurant closed or the mountain closed."
Compounding issues for working parents is that students are out for spring break, but daycares are closed and camps are cancelled.
Jones, speaking on March 16 shortly after an early afternoon trip to the grocery store, reported seeing several sparse sections during her visit, including vegetables, butter, some varieties of pasta, and canned beans.
Despite the stress those images might suggest, Jones said shoppers were taking the situation in stride.
"Everyone was taking it in good humour. There was no sense of panic in the store. Everyone was kind of giggling at the sight of things," she said. "People's shopping baskets looked different than they normally do. Everyone's got four of everything instead of one of everything. There were a lot of frozen pizzas and tinned goods going out the door."
There was good news for seniors and others who are potentially more susceptible to COVID-19 as the Pemberton Valley Supermarket started offering one hour of shopping exclusively for them between 8 and 9 a.m. before the general public was allowed in.
In a March 15 Facebook post (see below), the store also explained that it receives new shipments every day except Sunday, so shoppers can rest assured that there will be no prolonged stock shortages.
Over at the Pemberton Medical Clinic, March 16 was its first day of offering telemedicine appointments to patients who are already registered with the clinic via Doxy.me.
"Accessing these appointments can be done through your smartphones, tablets or laptops with a front-facing camera and you do NOT need to download any apps for this," the clinic posted to Facebook on March 15.
For more information on the clinic's telemedicine offerings, visit https://www.pembertonmedicalclinic.ca/telemedicine.
Village of Pemberton (VOP) Mayor Mike Richman, meanwhile, released an update for the public on pemberton.ca on Monday afternoon. In an interview with Pique, he said local residents are generally doing their best to keep on with their lives during the new era of social distancing and isolation.
"There's some confusion and lots of questions, and a big part of our role is to help people find out answers and get the right messages out, to keep people's concerns in check from growing out of proportion," he said. "The sense of community is awesome. Many are still going about their business and people are working in safe manners."
Richman said that one of the two cases diagnosed in Pemberton was an out-of-town resident who has since returned home. The other affected person is self-isolating and recovering.
The two affected people were at a community information session at the Pemberton & District Community Centre on March 11. Richman said those in attendance have been notified, but there hasn't seemed to be any notable subsequent bump in requests for tests.
"As far as I know, nobody else presented symptoms," he said. "The testing demands have been low today at the clinic, so I think people are heeding the recommendations of Vancouver Coastal Health."
Vancouver Coastal Health generally does not reveal details of confirmed cases, but did in this case because it was unable to contact everyone who may have been at risk of exposure. Those who were at the centre or attached library on that date between 2:30 and 8 p.m. and are presenting symptoms are asked to call 811 for assessment and not go directly to the clinic.
Specific locations of positive cases are not given out due to privacy concerns.
"Anyone who may be at risk of exposure to COVID-19 gets contacted by the public health officials who are supporting confirmed cases and their close contacts," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in an emailed statement this weekend.
"We will not be identifying the specific location of confirmed cases unless public health providers cannot be certain they have reached all those who need to be contacted and who therefore might be a risk to the public.
As for how the municipality is working to stem the virus' spread, Richman said that VOP staff has been in regular contact with doctors at the clinic to ensure that they have anything that they might need, and to ensure that the village is getting the correct and most informative health information to the public.
"We've been meeting frequently with the local doctors on the ground so that we can understand their needs, how we can best support them, how we can bridge their work through other work and other organizations," he said.
Richman said that the VOP is prepared to set up tenting areas at the clinic as necessary to allow for separate testing, though that hasn't yet been required.
"We've got everything ready to go, but at this point, we haven't needed it. There hasn't been that much demand yet, and we don't want to put it up until there's the demand," he said. "We don't want to mobilize certain things until needed because that will just draw on those human resources before we need to. We want to make sure, and the doctors want to make sure, that we're meeting the demand and that we're ready for the next-case scenario."
Richman added that the village as set up a Level One Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in order to access further provincial resources if needed.
"There's not a lot of activity in the EOC at this point," he said. "We don't want to behave irrationally. We want to be ready as things change, so let's set up an EOC.
"If we need it, it's a source of support for our doctors and we'll use it, and an again, EOCs are also used to access resources from the provincial government."
As well, the VOP has been in contact with its neighbouring municipalities to ensure that resources and staff are being used properly and as efficiently as possible.
"We want to be prepared for whatever eventualities we can. As resources from our health authorities get moved around the province as needed, we want to make sure that locally, we can pool the resources that we do have," Richman said.
In terms of the VOP itself, the town offices are closed, though staff members continue to answer emails and phone calls. As well, essential services including water, sewer and fire services remain available and Richman stressed that the VOP is ensuring that those services continue uninterrupted. While the VOP is in the process of prioritizing which projects will continue and which will be put on the backburner, he said day-to-day work such as processing building permits will continue.
Richman added that while the preventative measures may seem drastic, the cautious approach should not be taken as panic.
"We don't want to overwhelm our health-care system," he said. "We want to make sure that we're keeping ourselves healthy so that we're not putting more vulnerable people with immune deficiencies at risk.
"Let's calm the growth of this virus down so we can allow medicine to catch up, so we can allow medical professionals the ability to deal with those that really need care."
Richman said local residents with questions can reach out to him at any time at 604-966-6309 or mrichman@pemberton.ca.
