Lac La Biche County peace officers have been kept busy on COVID-19-related duty in and around the community over the last week.
Lac La Biche County's protective services manager Chris Clark says along with their regular workload, municipal officers have dealt with at least 25 instances directly related to COVID-19 and Public Health Act violations. A few of them are quite troubling, says Clark.
"We've had everything from people inside grocery stores causing stress or issues — and even had some incidents where people have been coughing on other people — whether it was done because they thought it was funny or not."
Clark said local peace officers can enforce Public Health Act policies like the 14-day travel isolations or forced isolations regarding contact with anyone with a confirmed case of the COVID 19 flu.
"There is also new news that 'anyone' showing 'any' symptoms must also do the mandatory isolate," said Clark.
County peace officers are also enforcing the rules governing what are now essential services in the community. While fines for contravention of those rules can reach as high as $750,000 for non-compliance, Clark said his officers are currently taking a more informative enforcement approach. But as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue, he sees harsher enforcement as incidents increase.
Preparing for increase
While Clark was pleased on Friday to say the Lac La Birche community continued to have no reported cases of the COVID-19 flu, he said officers are preparing for the uptick.
"It's not a matter of if we see it, it's when," he said, noting with some alarm that some residents are clearly not taking the need for global-wide precautions seriously — and that ignorance can put an unnecessary strain on all frontline workers. "We still have a lot of people who are out and about. We really, really need to make sure that people are listening."
