PDAC tallies three confirmed COVID-19 cases

As the science continues to evolve around the transmission of the deadly coronavirus, the 23,000 people who attended the Prospectors & Developers’ Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto on March 1-4 can only watch and wait.

PDAC confirmed the first case of infection on March 11, stating that an attendee had tested positive for the virus after returning to his home in Sudbury. The convention’s organizers reported that the individual had attended the trade show on March 1-3, including the Ontario premier’s press conference on the trade show floor on March 2, and a networking luncheon for students and the industry on March 3.

PDAC said it was possible the Sudbury man had acquired the infection at the event and that he had also attended three smaller evening events.

“PDAC has been in contact with the organizers of those events, and Toronto Public Health will be following up with them directly,” PDAC said in a media statement. “However, the advice remains the same, the risk is low and persons are advised to self-monitor.”

Then, on March 19, the industry heard of another case of an infection at the conference. Troilus Gold (TSX: TLG; US-OTC: CHXMF) CEO Justin Reid confirmed that an attendee at its PDAC breakfast reception on March 3 had tested positive for COVID-19.

The man was reported to be in serious but stable condition in the United Kingdom.

Separately, when contacted by The Northern Miner on March 24, Plateau Energy Metals (TSXV: PLU; US-OTC: PLUUF) confirmed that one of its staff that had attended the conference tested positive for the virus on March 22.

“Unfortunately, a member of our team in Lima is presently in the hospital,” the company said by email. “He received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 on Sunday, March 22, after going to the hospital on March 21. It is worth noting that this member of our team was tested for COVID-19 in Lima on March 14, 2020, and that test came back negative. Outreach to notify anyone that had been in contact with this person in Lima has been undertaken and, as an extra precaution, we have notified PDAC. No other members from our team that attended PDAC have presented with the virus.”

PDAC issued a statement on March 23. “Since our last communication with you, we have been informed by Toronto Public Health that two PDAC attendees from Toronto tested positive for COVID-19. These are in addition to the initial case from Sudbury, Ontario. As with the initial case, it was confirmed that these individuals were not infectious during the convention. However, it is possible they acquired the virus while participating.”

Another attendee of the conference informed the public on social media that he has also contracted the virus. In a Facebook post on March 20, the communications department of the Ministry of Mines in Burkina Faso said the country’s Minister of Mines, Oumarou Idani, “has been tested positive for coronavirus (Covid -19) after leading a delegation to the Toronto Mines Show (PDAC 2020).” The post did not provide any further details.

According to a paper published on March 11 in the Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, a study on the coronavirus in patients from two hospitals in Wuhan, China, the city where the outbreak began, said “the longest duration of viral shedding in survivors was 37 days,” and the median duration of viral shedding was twenty days in survivors.

The study examined 191 patients — 135 from Jinyintan Hospital and 56 from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital. Of the total, 137 were discharged and 54 died in hospital.

The study’s authors also confirmed that the clinical spectrum of infection “appears to be wide, encompassing asymptomatic infection, mild upper respiratory tract illness, and severe viral pneumonia with respiratory failure and even death.”