Soldiers battle COVID-19 in Garden Hill

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This article was published 28/01/2021 (2072 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Military members from Canadian Forces Base Shilo have returned to northern Manitoba to assist Garden Hill First Nation with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The approximately 30 soldiers, along with medical personnel from Edmonton, arrived in the community Jan. 20, said Maj. James Cressall of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Charlie Company.

Members are helping with staffing at the local nursing station, doing wellness checks, and assisting with contact tracing, he said Wednesday.

Local test positivity numbers have stabilized since soldiers arrived, Cressall said, but are still high.

When the military first arrived, the test positivity rate was approximately 70 per cent, but a week later had fallen to approximately 60 per cent.

According to the province, there are currently 709 active COVID-19 cases in Northern Health’s Island Lake subdivision, which contains Garden Hill, a fly-in community.

When soldiers arrived, the community didn’t have an alternative isolation area, so one was set up in the local high school. Previously, people who were diagnosed with the virus had to either isolate at home or in Winnipeg.

“Some of the communal living situations made it challenging for people to isolate properly at home, necessitating the need for a local (alternative isolation accommodation) to assist with a safe isolation that would protect the remainder of the community and stem the spread of COVID-19,” Cressall said.

The mission is similar to those in Shamattawa and Red Sucker Lake First Nations, where Shilo soldiers were deployed to help fight COVID-19 in December and early January.

There were lessons learned in other deployments being used in Garden Hill, Cressall said.

One was implementing a red and green card system: residents put a green card in their window if they don’t need help, but a red card if they require medical or other kinds of assistance.

Cressall said he is proud of the progress military members have made so far.

“The community has been extremely receptive to the Canadian Forces presence, the chief and council and the chief himself have shown a great amount of leadership in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak and asking for our support,” he said.

CFB Shilo public affairs officer Lori Truscott said the soldiers in Garden Hill First Nation are different from those previously deployed to Shamattawa and Red Sucker Lake First Nations, who are currently self-isolating.

Cressall said none of the soldiers deployed to Garden Hill have contracted COVID-19, and none are currently symptomatic.

— Brandon Sun