News briefs for November 13, 2020

Holy Family Home says its COVID-19 cases have swelled.

The care home at Main Street and Aberdeen Avenue issued a statement Friday that said COVID-19 had infected 16 additional residents and three more staff members.

In total, the home has 27 cases involving residents and eight cases involving staff members.

It has opened a second COVID unit and is preparing a third unit as a precautionary measure. 

RCMP have located a man who fled in handcuffs from a hospital in The Pas after officers took him there for a medical assessment.

Rodney St. Gelais, 26, suddenly took off on Thursday at about 8:30 p.m., while walking to a washroom in the hospital.

RCMP said St. Gelais is wearing proper clothing for the weather, but they were still concerned for his well-being.

Friday afternoon investigators said he had been safely located.

Like everything else in 2020, visits with Santa are going virtual.

Cadillac Fairview is suspending in-person Santa visits at all its 19 malls across Canada, including Polo Park Shopping Centre in Winnipeg, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead, families will be able to book a video call with Santa. Details on how to reserve will be available soon at https://www.cfshops.com/polo-park.html.

"Similar to what we’ve seen with other important events like weddings and birthday parties, we believe this temporary shift to online is the responsible thing to do in a very different year," said Craig Flannagan, VP of Marketing, Cadillac Fairview, in a news release.

A Kitchen Craft facility in Winnipeg had 29 of its employees test positive for COVID-19 over the last month, said MasterBrand, the company that operates Kitchen Craft.
 
The company has notified people who may have been in close contact with these workers, and 60 employees are currently isolating and monitoring for symptoms, said MasterBrand.
 
The Kitchen Craft facility has also paused production in certain parts of the facility for deep cleaning and sanitization.
 
“The health and wellbeing of all our Kitchen Craft associates and the communities in which we live and work is critically important. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve been implementing enhanced safety protocols at all our facilities to help prevent the spread of viral infections. Safety measures being enforced in Winnipeg include mandated mask wearing and social distancing,” said MasterBrand in a statement to the Free Press.

The Hyatt House Winnipeg Southwest on Sterling Lyon Parkway in Winnipeg has been issued a $5,000 fine for failing to adhere to public health orders, according to the government of Manitoba website.

The fine was issued Nov.10 for failing to ensure people do not eat inside a licensed premises.

On Nov. 9, the B.A. Robinson Co. Ltd. bathroom showroom was also issued a ticket, for failing to ensure a person indoors in a public place is wearing a mask that covers the nose, mouth and chin without gapping, and failure to remind a person who is not wearing a mask to do so. A $5,000 fine was issued.

Winnipeg’s pandemic health order enforcement has resulted in a second ticket.

The Serratus Movement Centre on Henlow Bay was fined $5,000 on Tuesday, Nov. 10 for allegedly being open while ordered to be closed, the city says, becoming the second company to face that fine.

Jason Shaw, Winnipeg’s assistant chief of emergency management, said the city has completed 159 inspections since it devoted five bylaw inspectors to enforce closures, capacity limits and other health orders on Nov. 6.

Shaw noted most facilities were found to be in compliance with the rules.

More than 10,000 Manitobans have tested positive for COVID-19, after another 437 new cases of the virus were announed Friday.

Three older cases were removed from the province’s rolls, "due to being out of province and a data correction," provincial health officials said, bringing the total active caseload in Manitoba to 6,307, and the total cases since the start of the pandemic to 10,216.

Five more Manitobans have died due to the virus, bringing the total deaths here during the pandemic to 137.

The new deaths include: 

• a woman in her 40s in the Northern health region;
• a woman in her 60s in the Interlake-Eastern region;
• two Winnipeg men, one in his 60s and one in his 80s; and
• a woman in her 80s linked to the Maples Long Term Care Home outbreak.

There are currently 231 people being treated in hospitals while 34 are in intensive care.

The current test positivity rate for Manitoba is 11.6, and for Winnipeg is 12.2.

New outbreaks were declared at the Gilbert Plains Personal Care Home in Gilbert Plains, Seymour Pacific Developments Ltd., in Brandon, Adult and Teen Challenge in Winnipeg, Golden Links Lodge in Winnipeg, Brooklyn Terrace in Steinbach, and Reston School in Reston.

The province has also opened new COVID-19 testing sites, a drive-up site opening today in Winnipeg at Assiniboia Downs (open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily) and a drive-thru site in Portage la Prairie at 2007 Saskatchewan Ave. West., which opens Monday, Nov. 16.

This is a corrected brief.  An earlier version of this article misstated the number of active cases.
 

The Pallister government is beefing up online tools to help stem domestic violence, and has hired two additional restorative-justice workers.

“Clearly there is more work to do when it comes to domestic violence (but) I think Manitoba has been a leader,” Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Friday. He announced the province has spent $176,000 to hire two additional restorative-justice workers who provide one-on-one support to victims of domestic abuse.

In addition, the province is releasing a virtual platform to train advocates to help victims file online for restraining orders (known as “protection orders”), as well as virtual workshops for families to learn about healthy relationships, staying safe and raising children.

Call reports for domestic violence in Manitoba have actually dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, bucking a national trend, while restraining orders have remained consistent.

A convicted drug trafficker who bolted before being sentenced has been found a year later living in British Columbia.

Winnipeg police said on Friday that Jared Irving, 35, was arrested in Kelowna on Oct. 27, and has since been transferred back to Winnipeg where he is in custody.

Irving was first arrested on Jan. 20, 2018, after a search of his West St. Paul residence found 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine. He was also caught in the act dumping what is believed to be meth into a hot tub. A .38-caliber handgun was also found there.

Irving was later convicted in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench of drug trafficking and possession of a prohibited firearm, but a warrant was issued when he didn’t show up for his sentencing hearing on Aug. 12, 2019.

Some Winnipeg drivers will have to find new routes this weekend.

Pandora Avenue East will close in both directions between Redonda and Ravenhurst streets, from 7 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The closure is meant to allow for sewer work.

For details on how the change will affect Transit routes, Winnipeggers can visit winnipegtransit.com or call 311.

Police are searching for a man reported missing in October but last heard from in July.

Long Vu Duong, 32, is described as Asian, 5’6” and 185lbs with a heavy build and short black hair.

Anyone with information about Duong’s whereabouts should contact the Winnipeg Police Service Missing Persons Unit at 986-6250.

Nunavut’s top doctor said he’ll be examining both its Winnipeg isolation hubs, which have been linked to all two of the territory’s four COVID-19 cases.

This week, the territory identified cases in Rankin Inlet and Arviat, both of which are closely tied to Churchill. Residents returning to both communities must isolate in Winnipeg hotels before heading north.

“The infectious period began well after they arrived in Nunavut, so there’s been no contact tracing back to Manitoba at this point,” Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s chief public health officer told the Free Press on Friday.

Patterson said he’d be “looking very closely” at whether the Winnipeg isolation hubs are causing a problem. He said the Arviat patient got sick and was then sent to Winnipeg for treatment, where they tested positive Thursday for COVID-19.

A pair of Manitoba teams are heading home from Okotoks, Alta., after just one game apiece.

The women’s curling event, featuring top-end teams such as reigning Canadian champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli and Jennifer Jones of St. Vital, was abruptly cancelled Thursday after the Alberta government implemented new restrictions to help with the fight against COVID-19.

It was to be Einarson’s first event of the 2020-21 season. 

The team beat Rachel Homan of Ottawa in the national final back in February but missed a chance to compete at the world championship after it was cancelled in March owing to the pandemic. 

The Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service responded to reports of a fire in a vacant two-storey house in the 800 block of Burnell Street at 2:51 a.m. on Friday. When crews arrived on scene, the attached garage was overtaken by flames and heavy smoke was coming from the home.

Crews launched an offensive attack, but due to the fire conditions they transitioned to a defensive attack. Firefighters were able to re-enter the house and the fire was declared under control at 4 a.m. No one was inside the home.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and no damage estimates are available at this time. The WFPS says drivers in the area should drive carefully, as water used to fight the fire covered the road and froze.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen will announce "new supports for victims of domestic violence" at a news conference this morning.

The news conference is taking palce at 9:30 a.m. at the provincial legislature.

The Free Press will have more on the announcement later this morning.

Two Winnipeg Regional Health Authority executives are holding a news conference to provide an update on the personal care homes situation later this morning.

CEO Vickie Kaminski and Gina Trinidad, the WRHA’s chief health operations officer, are scheduled to speak at the legislature at 10:30 a.m.

The province announced a total of nine deaths at Winnipeg care homes and assisted-living seniors’ residences Wednesday and Thursday.