Shamattawa overwhelmed by COVID-19, tuberculosis

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This article was published 30/11/2020 (1936 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A remote Northern Manitoba community is asking the federal government for military intervention as rapidly rising COVID-19 cases and a tuberculosis outbreak wreak havoc on its most vulnerable members.

“It’s a very scary situation for all of us in the community right now — we’re really concerned for our elders and our most vulnerable individuals,” Chief Eric Redhead of Shamattawa First Nation said Monday.

“The numbers have spiked dramatically in the past couple days and we expect that there’s going to be more cases coming in the next few days.”

The fly-in community with a population of less than 1,500 people has approximately 60 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, said Redhead. Faced with over-crowded housing and a susceptibility to tuberculosis outbreaks, the community has received support from a federal rapid response team, begun isolating families in Red Cross facilities outside the community and is now calling for help from the military.

“The Canadian military can deploy all around the world. We’re asking them to deploy in their own backyard for their own citizens,” Redhead said. “We’re pleading with the federal government to send us more help.”

He recently wrote to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan asking for military assistance with both medical care and COVID-19 rule enforcement, which was later echoed in letters from Niki Ashton (MP for Churchill-Keewatinook) and the MKO. The minister has yet to respond.

On Monday, Ashton said the circumstances in Shamattawa “point to the need for urgent action,” including intervention from the military.

Ashton wants to see the federal government “step in and show leadership” with regard to a community housing crisis, which leaves residents vulnerable to tuberculosis, COVID-19 and other health concerns.

Redhead agreed, noting the community’s rapidly escalating COVID-19 crisis ultimately comes down to overcrowded homes.

“Our first massive family that we evacuated consisted of 13 people in a four-bedroom house. Every single one of those individuals including an infant tested positive for COVID-19. One of those individuals is currently in ICU on a ventilator,” he said.

Another four-bedroom home was evacuated Sunday evening to Red Cross facilities outside the community. The family comprised 15 individuals unable to isolate at home.

“When you have overcrowding in housing, it’s perfect for this virus. You cannot safely social distance, you cannot safely keep your house sanitized when it’s that many people in such a confined space,” said Redhead.

“Housing is a health issue, it’s a human rights issue, it’s a dignity issue. When we don’t have adequate housing we’re put in the most vulnerable situations.”

In addition to crowded homes, the northern community faced a technological hiccup in the early days of the outbreak. When the first cases arrived in Shamattawa, the community requested and received a rapid-test machine and started training nurses. But nurses soon realized the machine had been shipped without necessary cartridges, causing a “huge delay” in training, Redhead said.

“Right now what we’re doing is playing catch up. If we were able to get that machine operational right away I believe we could have made an impact on the spread,” he added.

Representatives for Indigenous Services Canada were unable to respond to Free Press inquiries about the rapid test cartridges or the outbreak in Shamattawa by publication time.

As the community works to protect its residents and curb the spread, Ashton and Redhead expressed the growing need for federal government to step in.

“These numbers are shocking — this is about saving lives. We need to see the federal government pull out all the stops, including sending in the military,” Ashton said.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers