Fort William First Nation working to ‘keep folks safe’ amidst increase of COVID-19 cases
By Rick Garrick
FORT WILLIAM — Fort William Chief Peter Collins recently called for a travel moratorium into northwestern Ontario due to the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“If you look at the cases yesterday (Oct. 8), it was a record-setting day for Ontario (with) 797 confirmed cases,” Chief Collins says during an Oct. 9 Facebook Live video presentation. “The hotspot in Ontario right now is the Toronto region. We’re asking that the province put a moratorium on travel from Toronto into Thunder Bay and into our region — Fort William is only a couple of minutes away from the (Thunder Bay International) Airport and the infection can migrate its way into our community.”
Chief Collins says the Facebook Live video was posted to keep citizens aware about what is going on with COVID-19 in northwestern Ontario.
“With the hotspot being close to the Pearson Airport, we’re trying to work with the province to prevent that spread into our region,” Chief Collins says in an Oct. 13 phone interview. “What we’re worried about is folks migrating their way from Toronto into Thunder Bay. They’re only a couple of minutes from our front step, and that is very concerning for the community of Fort William as we continue to try to keep our folks safe.”
Chief Collins says Fort William has not had any confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Oct. 13. The community locked down when COVID-19 hit but has since opened up its businesses, neighbourhoods and the Anemki Wajiw (Mt. McKay) lookout.
“And that’s the way we want to keep it because if we get one (case), we’ll probably get 100,” he says. “We’re hoping to keep [the community] open — as of right now, that is the intent of council but we’ll see where this (COVID-19) leads us to in the coming months.”
Chief Collins encouraged people to keep following the COVID-19 measures to reduce the spread of the virus, such as wearing a mask, washing hands and keeping two metres away from others, and to get a flu shot this year.
“If you can get the flu shot, get the flu shot,” he says. “That is one of the things we are really pushing our folks, each and every one of them, to get their flu shot this year.”
Fort William heeld flu shot clinics on Oct. 20 and 22 at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre.
“We have enough flu shots for every [citizen] that lives in our community,” Chief Collins says in the video. “No appointment is necessary.”
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit website states there were 109 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including one active case, in the region as of Oct. 13.
“The Thunder Bay region is pretty COVID-19-free right now and we need to keep it that way,” Chief Collins says. “I’ve been having a dialogue with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit to keep us informed of the situations arising close to us. I’m also in contact with Thunder Bay Regional hospital — they send us constant communications as to what cases come to the hospital.”
The provincial government’s COVID-19 case data website states the number of confirmed active cases of COVID-19 reached a low of 891 on Aug. 12 but has since reached a high of 5,946 on Oct. 12, with 5,884 on Oct 13. The website’s Comparing active and hospitalized cases graph indicates a high of 939 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Oct. 8, with 721 new cases on Oct. 13.