Lynn Lake reeling as hospital declares COVID-19 outbreak, more cases announced

A small town in northern Manitoba is on high alert as more people testpositive for COVID-19 andthe province declaresan outbreak at the local hospital.

As of Saturday, there are 132 known active cases of COVID-19 in the community, according to a daily COVID-19 bulletin issued by the town of just under 500 people, located about 815 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

To date, there have been 170 total confirmed cases in Lynn Lake andtwo locals havedied. There are 50 households in isolation, the bulletin says. Lynn Lake CAOTom Matus said on CBC'sRadio Noonon Friday there are a total of 209 households in the community.

Audie Dulewich, former mayor and current resident of Lynn Lake, says he's concerned about the worsening situation.

"It's pretty disturbing. It lets us know that it's far from over," he told CBC News on Saturday night.

On Saturday, the province announced an outbreak at the local hospital, which has 11 acute care beds and eight long-term beds.

"That's really concerning," Dulewich says. "We look around at what's happened in all the other care facilities in and around the country. It certainly could have a devastating impact on the seniors living in our hospital."

Thehospital ismoving to critical, or red, according to the province's colour-coded pandemic response system.

Curfew introduced

That update came one day after a curfew requiring people to stay home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night took effect in Lynn Lake. The town's council passed that motion on Thursday.

That was in response to the "COVID explosion" the town saw over a period of about 10 days, Matus said on Friday.

Confirmed cases in the community skyrocketedfrom none on Dec. 18, to about 10 or 15 on Jan. 5, to now at least 170, he said.

"We just want to ensure and make a point that people must stay indoors for the remainder of this crisis," except to get essential items like groceries, Matus said.

"It is worrisome, but the town is galvanizing. We're coming together."

Matus said the town's leadership hopes cases will plateau within the next 10 days.

Lynn Lake is just one community in the Northern health region that's struggling.

On Saturday there were 69 new cases announced in the region, which has seen a sharp uptick incases this week due to outbreaks in several communities, health officials have said.

Four of thetop five health districts by active cases were in the north as of Saturday, including Island Lake (431 cases), Shamattawa/Tataskweyak/York Factory/Split Lake (340),Bunibonibee/Oxford House (163)and Lynn Lake (145).

Aprovincial government task force of 16 people has been deployed to Lynn Lake, and more people arrived Saturday, the town said.

The task force members are doing wellness checks, food deliveries and patrolling.

"You keep hoping ... the trend starts going the other way,"Dulewich said.