LONG LAKE 58 FIRST NATION, Ont. — Chief Judy Desmoulin expects to see more members of Long Lake 58 First Nation testing positive for COVID-19.
As of late Monday, she said 42 individuals in the community neighbouring Longlac had tested positive for the virus.
That's almost twice the number reported last Friday, when the Chief and Council declared a state of emergency.
Desmoulin told TBNewwatch that 25 of the 42 cases involve a COVID-19 variant.
Long Lake 58 has 535 residents.
"From the test results today, I feel there's definitely going to be more cases," the chief said. "For example, if there's two positives in a house, and there's five people living there, it's bound to spread."
She added that she wishes more residents had been vaccinated against the virus by this point, saying it would have made a big difference.
"We have 142 adults vaccinated to date, including our elders. We should have at least 300 done right now."
According to Desmoulin, there's been some resistance to vaccinations, but as a result of the current outbreak many community members are changing their minds.
When the state of emergency was announced on Friday, the leadership also said it remained concerned that those in the 12-to-17 age group had not yet been vaccinated.
The Chief expressed gratitude Monday to the community's frontline works, who she said are doing an "awesome job" in a high-risk situation out of love for their fellow citizens.
Long Lake 58's leadership had a conference call Monday with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, various medical organizations, the Matawa Tribal Council, NAN, the OPP, Indigenous Services Canada and the Canadian Rangers.
Desmoulin said "everybody's been so helpful. Services are coming. Everybody's gearing up to help in whatever ways we need it."
On Tuesday morning, Geraldton District Hospital reported that there was one new COVID-19 case, and two resolved cases, in its service area including Greenstone and various surrounding First Nations.
The hospital said the active caseload in its catchment area stood at 37.
