Manitoba infant may be province’s youngest pandemic death

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This article was published 17/03/2022 (1465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A northern Manitoba First Nations infant is one of the latest victims of COVID-19.

The province announced Thursday that 20 Manitobans had died of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in the past week, and “a male less than one year (old)” in the Northern Health region was included in the number.

Statistics released later in the day by the Manitoba First Nations pandemic response team confirmed the child was a member of a First Nation.

It was not immediately known if the infant is the youngest victim of the pandemic in Manitoba. A provincial spokesman said Thursday it would take more time to go through the data.

Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the First Nations pandemic response team had said the youngest death in the First Nations’ community was a one-year-old child.

Last June, the province announced a girl living in the Winnipeg health region, under 10 years of age, had died after battling COVID-19, but it wasn’t more specific.

On Thursday, Niki Ashton, NDP MP for Churchill — Keewatinook Aski, said: “The news of the loss of a little one to COVID-19 is devastating. My condolences go out to the family and entire community. Our North has gone above and beyond to stay safe during this pandemic. Today’s tragedy points to how the pandemic is clearly ongoing.”

The province announced the other 19 Manitobans who died in the past week from COVID-19 include:

• March 11: a woman in her 40s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg; a woman in her 100s from Winnipeg linked to the outbreak at Tuxedo Villa; a woman in her 50s from Northern Health; a man in his 50s from Interlake-Eastern; and a woman in her 90s from Southern Health;

• March 12: a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg; a man in his 80s from Southern Health; and a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg linked to the outbreak at Health Sciences Centre GH4;

• March 13: a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg;

• March 14: a man in his 50s from Northern Health; and a woman in her 40s from Winnipeg;

• March 15 : a man in his 80s from Prairie Mountain;

• March 16: a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg; and a woman in her 30s from Interlake-Eastern;

• March 17: a man in his 20s from Winnipeg; and a man in his 50s from Winnipeg.

As of Thursday, 1,723 Manitobans have died from COVID-19.

Meantime, while fewer people qualify for testing due to the current criteria, the test positivity rate was 14.3 per cent. PCR tests are available only to eligible people including pre-operative patients and those at high risk for severe outcomes.

The province also announced in the past week there have been 119 new COVID-19 hospitalizations (a drop of 15.6 per cent from the previous week), and seven more people moved into intensive care (a decrease of 68.2 per cent from the week prior).

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca