Province declines to shed light on omicron case at daycare

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This article was published 13/12/2021 (1751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba health officials are refusing to provide details about a highly contagious COVID-19 variant reported by a St. Boniface daycare, raising questions about when the province knew about the omicron case.

“Be careful with speculation about timelines until you have the facts,” a Manitoba Health spokesperson warned Monday.

Little Voyageurs Learning Centre halted its preschool program on Dec. 5, informing parents of two COVID-19 cases.

A Dec. 7 letter from the province noted at least one person may have been infectious while visiting the centre on Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.

On Saturday, Dec. 11, the centre notified parents that one of those cases at the daycare’s École Provencher site involved the omicron variant.

Yet the province’s recurring COVID-19 bulletin for Monday suggested no new omicron case has emerged since the prior Wednesday, Dec. 8.

The three-day lag might suggest a possible delay in contact tracing, or in the province informing the daycare — given that daycare staff have issued a series of updates to parents since both cases emerged.

A provincial spokesperson wouldn’t explain whether there was a three-day lag in informing the daycare, and seemed to hint that the province might not have fully confirmed whether that case actually involves the omicron variant.

“It takes time for lab staff to finalize and confirm variant cases to the point that we are comfortable with posting them in the bulletin,” the spokesperson wrote in a series of email exchanges with the Free Press.

“The province reports cases once they are fully confirmed. There will be nothing more to add until the Wednesday COVID bulletin, perhaps more omicron cases will be lab-confirmed and will be included there.”

Parent groups have criticized the Manitoba government for publishing less information about COVID-19 exposures and cases in schools and daycares than other jurisdictions. Ontario, for example, regularly posts how many cases are active and resolved in each of those settings.

Manitoba publishes some aggregate information, but focuses on contacting people who might actually be exposed to a COVID-19 case.

The spokesperson pushed back on the contention it isn’t being clear about the daycare case.

“There is no lack of clarity, unless you start reporting cases that have not been announced yet or blending the descriptions of possible cases. When a case is confirmed it will be announced through the regular bulletins.”

Last week, Manitoba said that of all five detected omicron cases, two people had returned from one of the 10 southern African countries that have faced Canadian travel restrictions, while the other three people are close contacts of the second announced case.

On Nov. 26, Ottawa implemented some travel restrictions, and also ordered anyone who had arrived from those 10 countries in the prior 14 days to get a COVID-19 test.

Children who were close contacts of the daycare omicron case were ordered to quarantine up until this past Sunday, or as directed by public health officials, who said the daycare was complying with the investigation.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca