Interior Health says crowded housing is an issue at the Canim Lake Band, where an outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared.

Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Albert De Villiers says there’s no one specific person who caused the outbreak, adding that IH isn’t sure how it started.

“Around some of the social issues in the community, yes, as we know there are some issues in First Nations communities and specifically in Canim Lake as well. That’s why we are putting an extra effort in to making sure we can actually support the community,” he says.

“We want to make sure if we tell people to go in isolation, they can actually go in isolation. So we’ve been working really hard with the community to make sure we can support them. Together with the First Nation as well as the First Nations Health Authority.”

The outbreak at the First Nation near 100 Mile House is now at 44 cases. That’s one fewer than the number provided yesterday, because of a data correction.

De Villiers says officials expect the case count to rise in the coming days. He adds it’s not known exactly how the outbreak started.

“The community is connected to a lot of other communities, and people travel and we know COVID-19 is out in all communities in the Interior. So there’s no specific of one person that had brought it in.”

The band has been fully locked down since last Friday, imposing a curfew for residents and not letting in visitors.