Whitewood grapples with coronavirus

March 27, 2020, 4:34 am
Donna Beutler

The Town of Whitewood, just like other municipalities in Saskatchewan, has been faced with making decisions for the health and safety of its residents during this uncertain time in Canadian and indeed world history. The COVID-19 pandemic means Whitewood is watching and listening closely to Saskatchewan Health regulations as well as Canadian-implemented guidelines.

“I believe the community (of Whitewood) is reacting positively to what our town council has had to implement,” Mayor Doug Armstrong of Whitewood told the World-Spectator last Thursday. “I think we as a council tried to get ahead of the game,” he went on to say, referring to some steps they took during a special meeting on March 16. Council chose to close the Whitewood Community Centre (skating and curling arenas) immediately to any and all events, as well as the Town Office to all public traffic.

“The Whitewood Town Office has been closed to the public, but staff is still conducting business,” Chief Administrative Officer Cindy Baumgartner said Thursday. “We have posted payment options for bill payments. We have also installed a drop box in the lobby of the town office for those who choose to pay by cheque or cash at the office.”

Baumgartner added that all town facilities have been closed and all programs have been cancelled. She also said that public works staff are still working and making sure the town continues to operate.

“If anyone needs to contact the town staff they may call the town office during regular business hours,” Baumgartner concluded.

The town is also asking residents who are using antiseptic wipes as part of their efforts to curb the spread of the virus to place such wipes in the garbage and not into the sewer system due to the harmful effects of wipes to the pumps of the town’s sewage system.

The Whitewood Community Centre closed to all events just prior to one of Whitewood’s signature events—the annual Farmers and Friends Curling Bonspiel, now marking its fifth year. This event usually attracts 64 teams but with the addition of eight youth teams, the event would have boasted 72 rinks.

“Since closing the community centre, it has affected us quite a bit,” Facility Operations Manager Ryan Dale said. “We had to cancel our largest event, the Farmers and Friends Bonspiel which brought hundreds to the facility, as well as hockey games and trade shows.” Dale explained that this has hurt the rink financially. “A lot of planning and co-ordination went into these events,” he added.

“With all those events suddenly cancelled, I have been doing what I can do return or sell products that were purchased for those events such as liquor orders and food/beverage orders,” Dale went on to say, adding that “we have already shut down the plant and both ice surfaces have been removed.”

With the shutdown of the facility, Dale says his team has been very busy cleaning and sanitizing everything in the facility, going room by room. He added that the unexpected time they now have is giving them an opportunity to complete projects that were not able to be completed during their busy time.

“My crew has a long list of duties and projects to complete in the time we have allotted before summer seasons kicks off,” Dale explained. “That being said, summer programming is being planned as normal. Unfortunately with this pandemic nobody knows a timeline and I don’t think it is fair to guess a date we could be up and running again. All we can do here is plan ahead and ensure we are ready for whatever happens. We are hoping that summer programs will be running on time. Exercise classes which have been such a success will be back as soon as we are allowed to reopen,” he concluded.

The Whitewood Pharmasave, as an essential service, continues to be open to the public although they have issued some guidelines to help keep the public safe, including asking that customers phone ahead to have prescriptions filled. In order to keep supplies of medicine available for all, they will not bulk-fill prescriptions and they have asked members of the public to visit their store at quieter times, particularly not during noon hour times when it can be busier.

Borderland Co-op locations in Whitewood (grocery, hardware and convenience stores) will remain open with supplies of food, medicine and fuel. The Co-op grocery store continues to offer its twice a week delivery service. Customers need to call prior to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays in order to have their deliveries go out at those times.

The Co-op grocery has also implemented early shopping hours for seniors and those with mobility concerns or the more vulnerable members of the community by opening from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays for them, and only them, during those hours.

Southeast Regional Library locations, including Whitewood, closed late last week and hope to re-open April 18.

Gloria Stevenson of the Southeast Regional College location in Whitewood said that public access to their campuses closed at 5 p.m. March 19.

“Also,” Stevenson said, “all industry, safety, continuing education, business management essentials closed as of March 19, 2010, 5 pm.”

As for academic classes offered via the community college, Sheena Onrait of Weyburn said that they are working on contingency plans for their students (academic classes) and hope to notify those students very soon on what those plans will be.

“All academic classes were suspended (week of March 16),” Onrait said, “but we will be in touch with these students by Friday or Monday (March 20/23) regarding the contingency plans.”

The Whitewood Fire Department is asking that any Whitewood residents who call 911 ensure that they tell the dispatcher if they have flu-like symptoms.

The long-term care (nursing home) portion of the Whitewood Health Centre are presently in lock-down so visitation has been curtailed unless there is an exceptional, compassionate reason for someone to enter.

The Whitewood Legion has suspended any and all gatherings in the Legion Hall until further notice while some restaurants have made changes, for instance adding free delivery service of meals, and another has gone to pick-up meals only available. Others remain open as are several businesses as of March 19. Lenten lunches and services have been suspended and churches are keeping a close eye on what’s taking place and making decisions according to the numbers and needs of their congregation.

Whitewood School has followed the rest of the province and last week was preparing for the March 20 closing date. While many students no longer attended school following the government’s school closure announcement early last week, some continued going. Parents were notified to pick up their children’s belongings and supplies late last week and Whitewood has joined the rest of the province in keeping students at home.