Trucking firm-linked cluster in Brandon now 11 confirmed COVID-19 cases
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2020 (1981 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A small cluster of coronavirus cases in western Manitoba has doubled in size since the province first alerted the public to the outbreak a week ago.
Public health officials announced one new case of COVID-19 Tuesday, stemming from a group of cases first identified among employees of a Brandon trucking terminal.
So far, 11 cases of the virus have been connected to the Paul’s Hauling location at 1515 Richmond Ave. E., in the city two hours west of Winnipeg.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin did not give his usual COVID-19 briefing Tuesday afternoon — media updates have been scaled back to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — but the province’s top doctor has previously noted the cluster could spawn new cases.
Over the weekend, two cases were also connected to the cluster, Roussin said Monday.
“These latest cases were identified as close contact of existing cases, and were not employees of that workforce,” he said. “Affected staff and their close contacts are isolating, and again we do not feel there is any exposure to the public.”
An internal company email from an executive within Paul’s Hauling sent to employees and leaked to the Brandon Sun, provides a rough timeline of the outbreak.
The email, dated May 1, said the first employee tested positive for COVID-19 on April 27.
A week later, provincial health officials announced the cluster of five cases, and within eight days that number has now grown to 11.
Roussin previously noted six of the cases are employees of Paul’s Hauling.
As new cases are confirmed and public-health investigators reach out to close contacts to advise them to self-isolate in an effort to contain the cluster, more cases could be discovered.
Health officials did not respond to questions Tuesday about how many more cases the cluster is expected to produce.
“There is no cause for concern and this is not unexpected as public-health officials continue to investigate and trace contacts,” a statement from the province read.
As of Tuesday, the total number of lab-confirmed and probable cases in the province sits at 290, with 32 considered to be active.
Four Manitobans are currently in the hospital fighting the viral disease, with one in intensive care.
The province says 251 individuals have recovered from COVID-19 the number of deaths remains at seven. The total number of tests performed since early February is 31,440.