More tickets amid fears of post-holiday surge

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This article was published 31/12/2020 (1763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s COVID-19 restriction enforcement teams have been busy through the holidays, handing out more than 50 tickets for alleged infractions last week alone.

Most were doled out to gatherings at private residences. As New Year’s Eve approaches, one epidemiologist warns such holiday events could have catastrophic effects in the weeks to come — especially as a highly transmissible sub-strain of the novel coronavirus makes its way through Canada.

According to data released Wednesday, the Manitoba government issued 193 warnings and 58 tickets through COVID-19 enforcement the week of Dec. 21-27. The week before (Dec. 14-20) enforcement teams handed out 62 tickets and 283 warnings.

“The more people that are in confined spaces with recirculated air, talking, laughing, drinking — the more opportunity there is for spread, particularly in cold weather,” Winnipeg-based epidemiologist Dr. Cynthia Carr said Wednesday.

“The only way to stop this sub-strain from really thriving, which is what we don’t want, is to continue with the social distancing.”

Carr said a variant of COVID-19, first identified in the United Kingdom, has made its way to Canada and appears to be both highly transmissible and infectious. While not a cause for panic, Carr stressed local regulations should be taken seriously as the new year approaches.

“How a strain like this becomes a dominant strain would come from a situation exactly like what could happen on New Year’s Eve… through a super-spreader event,” she said.

On Wednesday, officials said 51 of last week’s tickets were doled out to individuals (each with a fine of $1,296) and 44 of those tickets were issued for gatherings in private residences.

Carr warned would-be partiers should stay home and be “even more cautious” through January.

“In two weeks, we’ll start seeing that increase in cases… And then about three weeks… would be where we would start to see a potential serious impact on our health-care system, which is already taxed, and then following that would be mortality,” she said.

“January could quickly go from a start of celebration and joy to a very tragic month, if we’re not careful.”

Provincial representatives confirmed Wednesday tickets can be issued to both homeowners and guests breaching public health orders with indoor gatherings.

The province has refused to publicize names of individuals fined, citing privacy and safety concerns.

“It’s also important to note that individuals have the right to challenge any fines before the courts, so it would therefore be premature to name them when tickets are issued,” a provincial representative said in an email.

RCMP and other police agencies have been largely responsible for issuing personal fines.

Three of the tickets last week were issued to businesses (in the amount of $5,000 each). The remaining four tickets were issued to individuals not complying with mask rules at indoor public places (carrying a fine of $298).

One Winnipeg business — Bianca Amor’s Liquidation Supercentre on Ellice Avenue — was fined twice in two weeks.

Manager Julie Foriano chalked up the double fine to confusion over whether the store, which sells a wide variety of items, is considered a thrift shop and allowed to reopen under provincial guidelines implemented Dec. 12.

Foriano said the fines are being discussed by the store’s lawyers.

Since April, a total of 1,683 warnings and 617 tickets have been issued, resulting in more than $919,000 in fines to businesses and individuals.

There are nearly 3,300 personnel tasked with COVID-19 enforcement.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers