The mayor of Alert Bay has tested positive for COVID-19 and is resting at home, the municipality announced Monday.
Dennis Buchanan, 72, said he is feeling better than he did last week.
He said he has no idea where he picked up the virus, since he hasn’t left Alert Bay since the province declared a state of emergency March 18.
“I took all the precautions, I stayed home and I washed my hands and I still managed to pick it up,” he said. “Somebody must have brought it onto the island.”
According to its website, the Village of Alert Bay — located on Cormorant Island, a 40-minute ferry ride from Port McNeill — has a population of about 500 people.
The village shares the island with about 500 people of the ’Namgis First Nations, about 250 people belonging to the Kwakwaka’waka Tribes and about 35 people who live in isolated homes.
Buchanan said he started feeling sick about a week ago. He was tested on Thursday and received the positive diagnosis on Saturday.
He said he knows of other people in Alert Bay who are ill, but he couldn’t say whether they had tested positive for COVID-19.
Buchanan is now at home with his wife and gets daily checks from the local health authorities attached to the Cormorant Island Health Centre.
He said he has been told if he needs intensive care, he will be airlifted to a fully equipped hospital.
Buchanan, who has lived on Cormorant Island since 1970, is in his first term as mayor of Alert Bay. “Looks like I’m off to a great start,” he said.
