Clayton had his own close call after testing positive for the virus. In early January, he was isolating at a Terrace hotel near Mills Memorial Hospital almost 150 kilometres south of his home. His father was also isolating in the hotel while his mom had been admitted to the hospital, which is one of three COVID-19 emergency response centres in the North. “She didn’t want to go to the hotel. She was scared to be by herself,” Clayton says. During a routine call, a nurse asked him to check his oxygen levels. They were dangerously low. She told him to call an ambulance.