Soldiers sent to Pukatawagan amid COVID-19 outbreak
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2021 (1697 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — The military will send soldiers to a remote Manitoba reserve whose chief has blamed residents’ lax attitudes for a staggering rise in COVID-19 cases.
The Canadian Armed Forces will deploy 41 personnel to Pukatawagan, the seventh Manitoba reserve that has received military help during a large outbreak.
Known as Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, the reserve of roughly 3,000 went from having 10 cases to more than 100 in just a week.
“CAF support will continue until the situation has stabilized and is manageable through local and provincial resources,” spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande wrote.
Staff from CFB Shilo and the CFB Petawawa in Ontario started arriving in the the community, 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on Wednesday. More are expected Friday.
They will help with patient care, provide limited assistance with potential COVID-19 immunization, check in on people who are isolating and set up an isolation site.
The military said it will “support public awareness on health measures in effect and COVID-19 vaccination programs.”
That is in response to locals who let their guard down by socializing with one after after several community members were vaccinated.
“When we first got our needles, that’s when everything went out of control,” Chief Lorna Bighetty said Tuesday.
Not all community members have been immunized. IN addition, vaccines take a few weeks after being administered to become effective.
“They just went out and about, visiting each other, having their parties, just like nothing was wrong.”
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller called that troubling, and urged residents to follow public health guidance from the province and band councils.
“The federal government’s been engaged in ensuring that people know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but there’s a whole heck of a lot of tunnel left,” Miller said, in response to questions from the Free Press.
“Until everyone’s vaccinated, none of us is particularly that safe.”
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca