The British Columbia couple who fraudulently obtained doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Beaver Creek on Jan. 21 have allegedly tested negative for the virus.

That’s the word from the White River First Nation (WRFN).

Janet Vander Meer, the WRFN’s COVID-19 Inter-Agency Team Volunteer Lead, said she spoke with a lawyer representing Rodney and Ekaterina Baker over the weekend.

Vander Meer said she received a call from Whitehorse lawyer Jennie Cunningham, who said she is representing the couple.

The lawyer did not respond to the Star’s requests for comment this morning.

“It was a very brief conversation,” Vander Meer said. “She told me the Bakers had both been tested on Jan. 29, with the results being obtained on Jan. 30.

“It was a relief to hear the results,” she said – while noting the tests were carried out a week after the couple visited the tiny community.

“It’s like the community was holding its breath waiting for them.”

Vander Meer said she was somewhat skeptical about the worth of the tests coming a week later.

She speculated the Bakers are starting to sketch out a defence for their alleged actions, and are trying to ameliorate the astonishingly bad press they’re been subject to.

During that brief conversation, Vander Meer said there was no hint of an apology for the couple’s behaviour.

Since the incident, the story has gone world-wide and the WRFN has been besieged by media from all over the globe.

“I even had a call from Russia,” she said in disbelief. “I guess she’s a Russian actress or something; I don’t know. I don’t have time to go reading up on them.”

(Last week, complete with a graphic, CNN erroneously reported the Bakers’ trip had been to the territory of Yukon in Ukraine.)

Vander Meer said bluntly she’s getting tired of dealing with the incident, as the WRFN struggles to handle the pandemic.

She said she’s more than familiar with the question of border jumping, since many of the local residents in the Beaver Creek area are still crossing into Alaska and returning, and vice-versa.

The bonds of family and community between the region are stronger than an arbitrary political border, and the situation takes a lot of time to address, Vander Meer said.

She did say, though, that she was personally offended by the Bakers.

Vander Meer said her mother, who is battling cancer, was at the vaccination clinic at the same time as the Bakers.

“She’s been out of her home maybe two or three times in 10 months only for this to happen,” she said, her voice trailing off.

“How the Bakers could have looked at someone like that, perhaps the most vulnerable population in the community, and not said, ‘we’re leaving, we can’t do this,’ I don’t understand.

“That’s disgusting to me... and a very personal moment.”

Vander Meer said she’s busy preparing now for the second clinic, keeping what the Bakers did in mind as she does so.

“That’s what’s keeping my attention right now.”