Regina business questioning outbreak notice

Outbreak notices have been posted online consistently for a few months now, but one Regina business isn’t happy that it has been included.

On Nov. 14, the Turvey Centre hosted a production of a play, The Trial of Louis Riel. Then 12 days later an outbreak notice was posted online.

Heather Gaber is with the venue, and says Turvey Centre officials didn’t know about the notice until the next day when the Saskatchewan Health Authority called. She believes that call was prompted by media inquiries.

“They apologized, saying that they had dropped the ball on this,” Gaber said of the SHA.

The notice does specify the outbreak was within the cast of the play.

Gaber said they were very surprised by the outbreak because she feels their protocols at the Turvey Centre are robust: Nine feet between tables, masks and temperature checks for staff and patrons. Even the cast of the play was spaced out more than normal.

“It was especially surprising since we had done so much work to make sure that their set was adapted to make sure nobody was within six feet of each other,” explained Gaber.

Gaber claims she has since been informed by an SHA employee that the exposure may not have happened at the Turvey Centre — the members of the play’s cast were together later on.

Gaber said if that’s true, then it doesn’t make sense to her that the patients would have contracted the virus at the Turvey Centre.

“It just seemed like maybe we were kind of an easy place (to say), ‘Well, this was an outbreak here,’ ” said Gaber.

Gaber also points out that the outbreak notice was posted 12 days after the outbreak happened.

980 CJME has reached out to the SHA for comment but is still awaiting a response.

“Two weeks after the event is kind of a long time, so we’re definitely questioning it,” said Gaber.

Given the timing, the fact it was contained to only the cast of the play, and the possibility that it didn’t have anything to do with the venue makes Gaber question why the notice was posted publicly at all.

She feels the outbreak notice has been damaging to the business because the only date posted is when the outbreak was declared, and not when it happened.

“We’ve had some requests for refunds and some cancellations and some no-shows. I think when the public looks at the information that’s presented, they’re thinking that the outbreak happened on Nov. 26. Well, the event was there on Nov. 14,” said Gaber.

This year has been tough for the Turvey Centre, and Gaber feels an outbreak on top of it all is going to be even more painful.

Gaber said she’s not out to attack anyone and that she’s sympathetic for the contact tracers who have a really tough job.

“I just ask that they, you know, they just get it right,” said Gaber.