There’s an entry point in this province where you can pass “go” without any hiccups—and the MHA for the area wonders why government allows it to be a “back door” entry into Newfoundland and Labrador.
Only a few miles separates Fermont, Quebec from Wabush, Labrador but the NDP’s Jordan Brown says the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, inexplicably, removed the provincial border checkpoint. Furthermore, there is little to no requirement for people crossing from Quebec into Labrador to do anything but to keep on motoring.
Brown says he and the two independent MHA’s for Labrador—Perry Trimper and Lela Evans—have been doing everything they can to convince government to treat that area as they would any other entry point.
He says it took forever for government to post a sign notifying people that they can go to the Wabush Airport and pick up a test kit. However, that’s only available if there’s an incoming flight at that time.
(Graph by Robert Way using Department of Health data.)
Meanwhile, numbers supplied by the Department of Health and compiled by Happy Valley-Goose Bay resident Robert Way show that Labrador has, by far, the largest number of cases per capita in the province.
Way, whose newborn daughter endured a harrowing first few days awaiting a medevac to St. John’s, has compiled the numbers to question government about the level of COVID testing in Labrador.
He wrote Liberal MHA and minister responsible for Labrador and Indigenous Affairs, Lisa Dempster, questioning testing and Labrador-Grenfell samples that “were not processed at a rate consistent with the severity of the situation.” He says the live government briefings to-date haven’t acknowledged the enormity of the situation facing Labrador.
He says the challenge in Labrador is that there are not a lot of hospital beds and there is no ICU. Not only that, but what affects central Labrador affects the coast, as has been witnessed by the recent spread to coastal communities.
(Graph by Robert Way using Department of Health data.)
