OHSWEKEN — Six Nations public health officials confirmed a massive outbreak in coronavirus infections — jumping from 7 active cases to 47 active cases over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Now, Health Services Director Lori Davis Hill is condemning community residents for ignoring public health advice.
“Our health care staff are exhausted, and contact-tracing is not yet complete. Health care perspectives and advice can’t be ignored; they are working around the clock to keep us safe.” Said Davis Hill, “We cannot selfishly ignore life-saving advice from them. They are becoming overly stressed as a result of community taking risks to gather.”
The new cases include a total of 14 confirmed active cases and 33 probable cases.
Dates and number of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Oct. 13, 2020 @ 6:42PM are listed below:
Oct. 4th – 1
Oct. 7th – 1
Oct. 8th – 2
Oct. 9th – 5
Oct. 10th – 1
Oct. 11th – 2
Oct. 12th – 1
Oct. 13th – 5
SNGR now is in crisis mode as they race to halt this outbreak from spreading like wildfire throughout the community. Now, the council says community members are advised to leave only for essential purposes and to only gather with those inside of your immediate household.
The Six Nations Emergency Control Group issued a warning late last week, advising community members against any long weekend gatherings.
Davis Hill said the community’s public health workers are exhausted from racing to mitigate the outbreak and said there was little rest for the team over the holiday weekend.
In a statement to the community posted to social media, SNGR said, “the spike in cases are associated with private gatherings, members travelling from one gathering to the next which is very saddening when local public health measures stressed against doing exactly this.”
“Some members that attended gatherings are symptomatic but not seeking testing, placing the community at a seriously heightened risk of exposure,” said SNGR Elected Chief Mark Hill. “Please get tested if you are unsure, it is better to be safe than sorry.”
Now the community’s Emergency Control Group is reconsidering restricting public gatherings again.
As a result of the outbreak, Iroquois Lodge, the community’s nursing home, closed to non-essential visitors.
Six Nations public health officials are urging members to halt gathering with those outside one’s own household, to halt non-essential travel — maintain physical distancing, hand washing and surface disinfecting protocols to prevent the outbreak from spreading further.
Right now, Ontario is reporting 1,553 new COVID-19 cases over two days, and 12 new deaths.
The province says there were 746 new cases recorded Tuesday, and 807 on Monday.
Nine of the deaths were reported today, and three on Monday.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says today’s new cases include 311 in Toronto, 135 in Peel Region and 116 in Ottawa.
She says 1,292 cases were marked as resolved over the two days.
The province has conducted more than 67,700 tests in that time.
