The region's public health department noted that there have so far been 10 confirmed cases of coronavirus discovered among members of the Tosh Hasidic community.
“It has been the most difficult decision of my career, but fortunately leaders in the community arrived at the same decision I had made,” said Eric Goyer, director of public health and social services in the Laurentians."Restricting individual liberties is not something I like to do. What I want is to offer the best protection to members of the community, especially seniors,” Goyer said.
Following reports of the outbreak, members of the Tosh community of 4,000 have been required to self-isolate for 14 days, requesting help from local authorities in order to implement the quarantine. The outbreak, according to Goyer, was likely caused by individual members of the community contracting the virus while traveling in the United States.
“This is a first generation of cases; these are people who develop symptoms after travel,” Goyer added. Local public health officials also said that they are awaiting the results of coronavirus testing on nearly half of the Tosh community's members. On the recommendation of authorities, the community erected a checkpoint to ensure that only essential services enter the area.
Francis Lanouette, director of the Thérèse-De Blainville police force, a municipality that sits at the foot of the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, weighed in on the Boisbriand coronavirus outbreak, saying that, “We are there to help them if they need our help.”
Goyer said that the public health department is prepared to help members of the Tosh community, but will not monitor or try to stigmatize its members, adding that the authorities are in regular contact to make certain that there is not a lack of food or medicine during the 14-day self-isolation period.