The Tahltan Nation has issued a notice that the public should avoid its territory in northwest British Columbia until there’s a vaccine or community immunity for COVID-19.
The notice was issued Thursday, when BCs public safety minister announced the restriction of visitors to Haida Gwaii, where 20 people have tested positive for the virus.
The Tahltan Nations said in a statement that the consequences of spreading COVID-19 are too great, given the limited access to acute medical care for residents.
The nation’s territory spans almost 96,000 square kilometres of land or about 11 per cent of the province.
All non-essential travel to Dease Lake, Iskut and Telegraph Creek should be avoided, and all recreational activity access points will be blocked with gates and monitored, the statement says.

Newly released data on COVID-19 cases reported in Toronto suggest people who identify as belonging to a racialized group or living in low-income households are disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus.
Toronto Public Health says data collected from people infected with COVID-19 and who voluntarily answered socio-demographic questions found 83 per cent identified with a racialized group.
That’s compared with the 52 per cent of Toronto residents overall who identify as such.
The data also show 51 per cent of reported COVID-19 cases in Toronto were people living in households considered to be low-income, compared with 30 per cent of the population that meets the same definition.

Some parents and teachers are upset with Ontario’s newly released back-to-school plan, saying it doesn’t do enough to protect kids from the risk of COVID-19.
The Ontario Parent Action Network says that instead of getting kids back to school safely, the province has “abandoned” them.
The province’s four major teachers unions argue the plan jeopardizes the safety of staff and students alike, saying the return to school is “underfunded.”
The plan, announced yesterday by Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce, will see elementary students and many high schoolers return to school full-time in September.
But high school students at two dozen boards _ including the Toronto District School Board _ will only attend class half the time, with a maximum class size of 15.
Parents will also have the option to keep their kids out of class, and boards must provide options for remote learning.

Six Nations Police responded to a call Monday reporting suspicious vehicles on Cayuga Road near Fifth Line Road which had been following a female who was walking on the roadway.
Officers arrived at the area and spoke with a 31 year old female.  The female described one vehicle to be a white van with all white windows on the sides and back.  The van was accompanied by a black sedan car.
The vehicles had passed by the female three times; on the third time, they were heard to comment on “getting her”.  The Indigenous female felt she was about to be abducted and ran to a friend’s residence on Cayuga Road.  
The  number of occupants is unknown, no licence numbers were obtained.  The only description of the two males in the van was that they had no type of accent and may have been Caucasian.
Police patrolled the area but did not locate the suspect vehicles. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.