Virus-test positivity lowest since November

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This article was published 09/01/2021 (1879 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While seven more Manitobans have died from COVID-19 and another 203 have been newly sickened with it, Winnipeg’s test positivity rate is the lowest it has been in two months.

The province says more health-care workers are now eligible to receive a vaccine.

Public health officials said on Saturday six of the deaths were in the Winnipeg health region while the seventh death was in the Southern Health region.

After weeks of code-red restrictions in Winnipeg and the rest of the province — and just a day after the province announced the restrictions would continue for at least two more weeks — the five-day test positivity rate number finally reached single digits with 9.4 per cent in Winnipeg and 9.9 per cent across the province. The number means that for every 100 Winnipeggers tested for COVID-19, 9.4 of them tested positive for the virus.

It is the lowest test positivity rate reported since the city tallied 9.3 per cent on Nov. 9 — two months ago to the day on Saturday and, at the time, just seven days into Winnipeg moving into code-red restrictions. The province also scored 9.5 per cent that day.

Other numbers reported on Nov. 9, however, were different than now: there were 365 new cases reported that day, along with three deaths, bringing the total fatalities at that time to 109.

The positivity rate number also comes after weeks of it hovering between 13 and 15 per cent, and months after provincial public health officials said they didn’t want the rate to go above three per cent.

As of Saturday, there have been 733 deaths since the pandemic began, 624 since Nov. 9. To date there have been 26,166 cases confirmed.

The latest deaths are:

• a man in his 40s from the Winnipeg health region;

• a man in his 60s from the Winnipeg health region;

• a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region;

• a woman in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre;

• a woman in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at Deer Lodge Centre

• a woman in her 100s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at Oakview Place Personal Care Home; and

• a man in his 50s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region.

The breakdown of cases across the province are 85 in Winnipeg, 54 in the Northern health region, 38 in the Prairie Mountain health region, 19 in the Southern Health region, and seven in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

There were 2,181 tests completed on Friday for a total of 437,412 since February.

The province announced there has been a new virus outbreak declared at the Samaritan House Ministry Safe and Warm Shelter in Brandon, while outbreaks at the Rod McGillivary Memorial Care Home in Opaskweyak Cree Nation and the Riverview Health Centre in Winnipeg have been declared over.

Meanwhile, the provincial government announced more people are now eligible for the vaccine.

The province says health-care workers who work in a virus-testing site or immunization clinic, even some with no direct patient contact, can now get the vaccine.

Emergency response services and specialty patient transportation workers, including respiratory therapists and paramedics, who are registered with an applicable college or association, and who are born on or before Dec. 31, 1975, are now eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 876 more health-care workers received the vaccine to protect them from COVID-19 while another 301 received their second doses Friday.

A total of 8,674 arms have been jabbed with the vaccine since it arrived here.

There have been 22,230 doses of the Pfizer vaccine which have reached Manitoba with another 9,360 doses expected to arrive next week. About one-third of the vaccine will be transported to Brandon so its vaccination site at the Keystone Centre can open Jan.18.

As well, the province has received 7,300 does of Moderna’s vaccine and, of those, 5,300 are being used for immunizations in First Nation communities while the rest will be used to begin immunizing seniors at personal care homes starting Monday.

The province hasn’t said when the next shipment of Moderna vaccine is coming.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca