Provincial COVID-19 pandemic orders that limited outdoor gatherings over the long weekend will stay in place until at least Friday, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says.
In addition, all other current public health measures will remain in place until May 29 at 12:01 a.m., in an attempt to ease the overwhelming COVID-19 burden on Manitoba’s acute care system.
The premier said, as of May 21, 43 per cent of Manitobans currently admitted to hospital for COVID-19 had not been tested for the disease prior to their arrival at a health centre.
"There’s an element of personal responsibility that shouldn’t escape us, but seems to be escaping some that we need to remark upon," Pallister said Tuesday.
"We continue to see people who are coming to hospitals very sick, presenting at hospitals very sick, who have not been tested for COVID," he said. "That means that there is a far greater risk that they are transmitting COVID to others and variants of concern work fast. We need to change these behaviours."
The province reminded Manitobans the following restrictions continue to be in place:
• Indoor public gatherings are not permitted and visitors are not permitted on private property, except in certain circumstances;
• Outdoor gatherings with anyone from outside a household are not allowed, and this applies to all recreation spaces including playgrounds, golf courses, parks and sports fields;
• Retail businesses may only operate at 10 per cent capacity or 100 customers, whichever is fewer, and only one person per household will be allowed to enter, with some exceptions, such as a single parent with children or someone who requires a caregiver;
• Many businesses and organizations will remain closed for in-person service, including gyms and fitness clubs, restaurants and bars, personal service businesses, museums, galleries and libraries.
"We have nearly 5,000 active cases; 69 per cent of those cases occurring in the past seven days," chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Tuesday.
"We know that our hospitals are being stretched to the limits right now. We need to stay home as much as possible."
On Tuesday, Manitoba reported the deaths of two people due to COVID-19: a Winnipeg man in his 30s; and a woman in her 80s from the Southern Health region infected by the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.
The province also provided information on four deaths recorded on the holiday Monday: a man in his 40s and a man in his 50s from Prairie Mountain (both infected by B.1.1.7); and two men in their 70s from Southern Health.
The total number of Manitoba deaths due to COVID-19 reached 1,035.
On Tuesday, the provincial government said 259 new infections had been reported, out of 2,398 COVID-19 tests processed Monday. There were 187 new cases in Winnipeg, 15 in Interlake-Eastern, 14 in Northern Health, 15 in Prairie Mountain, and 28 in Southern Health.
The five-day test positivity rate was 13.8 per cent provincially, and 15.9 per cent in Winnipeg.
As of Tuesday morning, 314 people were being treated in hospital for COVID-19, including 79 in intensive care.
Manitoba is preparing to send COVID-19 patients to Saskatchewan and North Dakota, in addition to those who have already been transferred to hospitals in Ontario.
Four patients a day, on average, are being transferred out, and provincial intensive care unit capacity will be expanded by the end of the week, with additional nursing support from the federal government, officials said.
An outbreak has been declared at Boundary Trails Health Centre (surgical/rehab unit) in Winkler.
danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings remain in place; 259 new cases, two more deaths - Winnipeg Free Press
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