Written By: Leah Ward | ×
Saveena Bappoo of Heron Lake died Dec. 26, 2020 after contracting COVID-19. (Submitted photo)
HERON LAKE Folks from throughout the local area entered the new year in a state of mourning, grieving the loss of Heron Lake s Saveena Bappoo, who died Dec. 26 after contracting the novel coronavirus. She was a sweet person very kind and loving, said Cheryl Knutson, Saveena s best friend for a decade. I never knew her not to have a smile on her face, recalled Lori Henkels, who worked for Saveena for four years.
A native of the island of Trinidad, Saveena immigrated first to New York City and then moved to southwest Minnesota in 2009 with her husband, Ron. In the 11 years she lived in the area, Saveena made quite an impression on the community, most notably as the proprietor of Heron Lake s Plaza Grill restaurant.
On Nov. 21, just five days ahead of Thanksgiving, for which Plaza Grill already had 300 confirmed holiday dinner orders and another 200 awaiting confirmation, owner Bill Chino picked up the phone and started calling customers to cancel. A front-of-house employee had just tested positive for COVID-19. The call list was daunting, he says, but it was the right thing and the prudent thing to do.
Plaza Grill was not alone. Within that week, five Arcata restaurants shut down temporarily due to employees possibly being exposed to or testing positive for COVID-19. It was the same week then county Health Officer Teresa Frankovich noted in a media availability that, along with travel, social gatherings beyond the three-household outdoor gatherings allowed under state guidelines including a party with some 100 people in attendance were driving a spike in positive cases that had pushed Humboldt into the purple widespread risk tier Nov. 24 and has only grown steeper in December. The clos