HAGERSVILLE – The deaths of 15 residents at a Hagersville nursing home have turned Haldimand-Norfolk into Southwestern Ontario’s deadliest corner for COVID-19 and one that rivals the worst provincial hotspot for infections.

The death toll at Anson Place Care Centre rose by two Monday after two other deaths reported over the weekend amid an outbreak of the virus that’s infected or killed more than half the home’s pre-coronavirus population of 101.

The toll comes as the West Haldimand General Hospital in Hagersville is also under siege from the virus, revealing that six of its staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.

The deaths in small-town Hagersville, its population about 3,000, have especially been hard on workers at the nursing home, one said.

‘I’m scared,” one health care worker at the home, who did not want to be identified, told The Brantford Expositor. “It’s exhausting, and some of the girls are working 10, 11 or 12 days in a row.”

One month into the coronavirus pandemic, the elderly have accounted for about half of Ontario’s COVID-19 deaths,  including 29 residents at a Bobcaygeon nursing home and six at the Landmark Village retirement complex in Sarnia.

But Haldimand-Norfolk’s grim distinction goes further. The far-flung rural area along Lake Erie, stretching from Long Point in the west to Dunnville in the east, is running Southwestern Ontario’s highest reported rate of COVID-19 infection, at 106.1 cases per 100,000 people, according to provincial figures.

Only another rural area in the Ottawa Valley, taking in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties, is reportedly running a higher infection rate, 106.3 cases for every 100,000 people.

But the Haldimand-Norfolk infection rate reported by the province may yet be worse, based on provincial figures of 121 cases of the virus as of Sunday when the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit said there had been an additional 10 cases.

The mayors of Haldimand and Norfolk counties have urged people not to come to the area due to its outbreak and limited health care resources. The two counties have only eight ventilators, life-saving machines used to force breathable air into a patient’s lungs, including those set up in emergency rooms.

At Anson Place, workers are only allowed to go between their homes and the nursing home and can be fined if they’re caught elsewhere, such as at a grocery store, said the worker who did not want to be identified.

“The health unit is taking a lot of precautions,” said the worker. “I feel like they’re doing everything they can to shut this down.”

No new admissions are allowed at Anson Place during the outbreak. Residents are in self-isolation in their rooms and all steps possible are being taken to contain the outbreak, the health unit said.

Ontario reported another 401 new confirmed cases of coronavirus Sunday, including 21 deaths, with the total number of COVID-19 cases in the province now eclipsing 7,000.

The elderly, often with reduced immunity and lung capacity, are especially vulnerable. That includes the more than 70,000 Ontarians living in more than 600 long-term care homes, which remain under strict lockdown.