THUNDER BAY — Delegates from northwestern Ontario who attended the recent Prospectors and Developers Association conference in Toronto woke up Wednesday to learn a man who tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus, was at the same meeting.
News broke overnight that a Sudbury man tested positive in the Sudbury hospital emergency department after returning from the conference with a cough and shortness of breath.
The man, in his 50s, is now in self-isolation at home.
Garry Clark, executive-director of the Ontario Prospectors Association, learned about the case on a radio newscast.
Shortly after, he started receiving calls from "a deluge of people," he told Tbnewswatch in an interview.
"I was just on the phone with one of my clients from Mexico who was at the convention. He called me to ask how I felt, and I said 'Well, I feel fine.' He'd been hit with about 10 emails from people asking if he was okay," Clark recounted.
He estimates that about 100 delegates from the area participated in the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention.
John Mason, Project Manager/Mining Services for Thunder Bay's Community Economic Development Commission, was among the attendees, and worked out of a booth in the meeting hall.
Mason noted that the city delegates adhered to a policy of not shaking anyone's hand, as a precaution.
He said about 40 area companies connected to mining sent representatives to the meeting.
Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both attended the conference on one of the same days as the Sudbury patient.
Clark isn't worried about his own health at this point.
"There were other things going around too. I ended up with a cold, and I know another guy who got strep-throat. When you put that many people in a city like that, you're going to run into everything," he said.
Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas said he feels fine after going to the PDAC convention, and has no present concerns about his health.
Dumas added, however, that it's important for everyone to always be aware of their surroundings in a situation such as the current one.
As of Wednesday morning, Ontario health officials had reported four more cases of coronavirus, bringing the total in the province to 41,
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit has not yet reported any presumed or confirmed cases in or around the city.
