Via CBC News: 'I didn't want him to go yet': N.W.T. family mourns patriarch, territory's 1st death from COVID-19. Excerpt:
Gabe Kochon wanted to die on the land, surrounded by his family.
Not alone in a hospital bed, like he did this week — after contracting COVID-19.
"I thought he just had a cold, that was it. We didn't expect COVID," his daughter Rose McNeely told CBC News. "As soon as they said it … I was kind of in shock. I got scared."
Kochon, 92, a unilingual Sahtu Dene, was one of Fort Good Hope's most cherished elders. He also bears the unfortunate distinction of being the Northwest Territories' first fatality from COVID-19.
The territory is currently experiencing its largest outbreak of COVID-19, with over 200 cases centred on its Sahtu region. Two previous outbreaks — in Yellowknife and the hamlet of Fort Liard — were quickly contained. The latest outbreak has spread to eight communities so far, with probable cases in at least one more community.
The outbreak began when a positive diagnosis showed up in someone who attended a long-awaited hand games tournament in early August in Fort Good Hope, which has since been called a superspreader event.
Kochon entered the tournament as a favour to his grandson, who couldn't find a replacement to join his team.
On Aug. 10, the day after the tournament ended, Kochon developed a sniffle — something his family figured was just a cold. He started to deteriorate 24 hours later.
When they brought him to Fort Good Hope's health-care centre, workers there said he was dehydrated and kept him for an evaluation, eventually sending him to Yellowknife by plane for more care.
As Kochon got sicker, the N.W.T. government confirmed the first two COVID-19 cases in the community, so he took a COVID-19 test. It came back positive.
Kochon was not vaccinated. His daughter said it was because the few times the vaccination clinic came to Fort Good Hope, he was on the land, where he spent much of time — hunting, trapping and enjoying his traditional lifestyle.
