Fourteen new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Northern Manitoba Nov. 4, including 11 new cases in The Pas/Opaskwayak Cree Nation/Kelsey health district, which now has 100 cases in total, 76 of them active.
Other new cases included two from the Island Lake health district, which now has five cases, one from the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak Cree Nation health district and one from the Lynn Lake/Marcel Colomb First Nation/Leaf Rapids O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation/South Indian Lake/Granville health district, which now has three active cases.
The total number of cases from unknown districts was reduced by two from Nov. 3 and the number of active cases from those district dropped down to 20 from 24, while the number of recoveries went from six to eight.
Cases are assigned to the health districts that are listed as the home addresses of the people who tested positive for the virus, though they may live elsewhere.
There have now been a total of 254 cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) since the pandemic began, 164 of which are considered active.
The number of active cases in Thompson dropped by two to 13 since Tuesday.
Eight people from the north are in hospital due to COVID-19 on Nov. 4, one of them in intensive care. Chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said at Wednesday’s press conference that there are also 43 people from the NRHA staying at alternative isolation accommodations.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said an outbreak has been declared at Manitoba Hydro’s Keeyask generating station in Northern Manitoba, where there have been 23 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Nov. 4 and another eight workers who received "not clear" results on their initial tests and are waiting on results of followup tests to confirm their COVID-19 status.There are 55 workers self-isolating in special dorm rooms at the Keeyask sate as of Wednesday.
Chiefs of four First Nations near Keeyask, who are partners in the project – Tataskweyak Cree Nation (TCN), Fox Lake Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation and York Factory First Nation – held an online press conference regarding the outbreak at the hydroelectric dam construction site Nov. 4, calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in and ensure that the outbreak at Keeyask is dealt with urgently.
“I am deeply concerned and worried about my TCN members and all people at Keeyask,”said TCN Chief Chief Doreen Spence in a news release. “Back in the spring we repeatedly tried to work with and tell Manitoba Hydro we were concerned about Keeyask as a potential site where COVID-19 would be enabled to enter our communities. We were forced to lockdown the north, to protect our members and communities, and have our concerns taken seriously. Now our worst fears have come true and we need the government of Canada to step in and help us ensure First Nations people will be kept safe from the uncontrolled epidemic being allowed to continue at this Manitoba Hydro site. The health and safety of our members and people in the north is our number one concern and priority.”
Dr. Barry Lavallee, CEO of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak health organization Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin, said COVID-19 cases among First Nations people make up 24 per cent of all coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Manitoba, and 48 per cent of those in intensive care.
“What’s happening at Keeyask should be a concern to all Manitobans as our intensive care units are now at capacity,” he said. “We are asking that Keeyask be put into ‘care and maintenance’ mode for at least 14 days, potentially longer, to get this outbreak under control.”
Siragusa said 90 per cent of the province’s intensive care beds (72 out of 80) were occupied Nov. 4 and that there are plans to increase the number of ICU beds as circumstances demand.
Provincewide, there were 374 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Wednesday and there are 140 Manitobans in hospital due to the virus, 21 of those in intensive care and 14 of the patients in intensive care are on ventilators. Two more deaths were also reported in Manitoba on Wednesday, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 87. Roussin said 21 of those deaths occurred in the past week, a number equal to the total number of flu deaths in the province last flu season.
“This is not simply the flu,” he said, but something more dangerous, though influenza itself is also a dangerous virus. "This is multiple times more deadly than the flu."
