Owen Canale鈥檚 unexpected good behaviour at bedtime raised a red flag with his mother Sarah.
The eight-year-old doesn鈥檛 usually go to sleep easily at night, but on Aug. 7, Sarah found him passed out in bed earlier than usual.
Then he woke up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps and a severe headache.
鈥淗is head hurt so bad he was digging his fingers into his head,鈥� says Sarah.
By the morning, Owen had begun vomiting. His family then took him to the emergency room at Nelson鈥檚 Kootenay Lake Hospital.
鈥淚t was just a very sad situation to see your child so weak. He couldn鈥檛 grasp my hand.鈥�
Owen tested positive for COVID-19, to be reported between July 1 鈥搘hen the provincial government dropped restrictions on masks and gatherings 鈥� and Aug. 12.
The Nelson area, which includes Salmo and parts of the Slocan Valley, had been largely unaffected by the pandemic in 2020. At the time there were just 53 confirmed cases, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control. But that changed in April, starting with an . In July cases surged again.
has made Nelson a provincial centre for the pandemic, with higher weekly positive tests than in Lower Mainland communities such as Abbotsford and parts of Vancouver.
The Canales are among the Nelson residents now coping with a virus that鈥檚 rapidly spreading throughout the community.
Sarah and her husband Patrick have each had two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but Owen and his six-year-old sister Ali are too young to receive the shots.
Owen is now recovering and Ali has tested negative, but the family is still under quarantine.
鈥淚t might not be hospitalizing them, but the repercussions of the social isolation are really taking a toll on the kids,鈥� says Sarah.
鈥淎ll his friends now are isolating. The more people who can be vaccinated in our community, maybe we can stop this outbreak.鈥�
Server cough
Ostara Toews wondered if the smoke was to blame.
For weeks, Nelson鈥檚 air had become a brown haze caused by regional wildfires. Toews, a bartender at a downtown restaurant, began coughing on July 23 but initially brushed it off as a symptom of working in an outdoor patio.
She went to work the next day, but felt worse. One day later, Toews woke up too sick to leave her home.
鈥淚 just had aches and pains. My throat felt like it was on fire. My head was throbbing. And I felt like I was kind of living in that fever dream,鈥� she says.
Toews had been scheduled to receive her second jab that day. Instead, she tested positive for COVID-19 the day after that.
Meanwhile, a server at a nearby restaurant had also begun to cough.
Pauly Frost, 29, also thought the smoke was to blame for the hack he鈥檇 developed.
A headache and nausea followed, as well as a pain in the joints of his feet that made walking difficult. 鈥淚t would come in waves,鈥� says Frost. 鈥淚t sucks the energy right out of you while you try to fight it.鈥�
Frost, who had just received his second vaccine dose, tested positive one day after Toews. His partner had been double vaccinated for a week but also tested positive for COVID-19 with a milder case.
Stuck at home, Frost said he felt guilt about being off while his coworkers picked up the slack. Tourism is alive and well in Nelson, and there鈥檚 little to suggest a pandemic is underway during an evening walk around Baker Street patios.
Frost has since returned to work, but concerns about the health of those tourists, as well as the constant need to remind them about COVID-19 etiquette, has made him wonder if he should leave the industry after over a decade of being a server.
He also still thinks patrons should make their own decisions about wearing masks in public 鈥� Frost just hopes those decisions are smart ones.
鈥淚f you are feeling safe enough to go outside then you should probably wear the mask,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd if you don鈥檛 feel safe enough you should probably stay home.鈥�
Toews has also returned to work, but is now using an inhaler for the first time in her life. While she knows Nelson鈥檚 businesses need summer tourism revenue, but thinks the provincial restrictions were lifted too soon.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very 鈥榙amned if you do, damned if you don鈥檛鈥� situation. Businesses need to keep going,鈥� says Toews. 鈥淲e have a beautiful town that people want to come and visit, but I don鈥檛 think that it鈥檚 been conducive to helping ease those numbers.鈥�
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 in Hell鈥�
The pandemic has not just been limited to Nelson.
Forty minutes west, in Castlegar, the city has had 88 cases since July 4, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Robyn Lenfesty is one of those cases. The 29-year-old was forced to spend eight days on oxygen at Trail鈥檚 Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital after catching the virus from her partner, who also tested positive.
In the hospital, Lenfesty watched nurses working double shifts and listened to other patients suffering.
鈥淚 was laying there thinking like, I feel like I鈥檓 in Hell, I can鈥檛 imagine what they鈥檙e going through.鈥�
Lenfesty wasn鈥檛 vaccinated before she became ill. She says now she regrets that, and has signed up to get her first dose now that she鈥檚 back home.
鈥淗onestly I just feel really grateful that it鈥檚 over. I鈥檓 going to be more careful from now on and do my best to help, being vaccinated and making sure I鈥檓 still wearing masks and socially distancing.
鈥淚 hope other people also do the same thing and things can go back to normal one day.鈥�
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| tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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