374 new COVID-19 cases, two more deaths in Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2020 (1978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mothballed units in the former women’s hospital at Health Sciences Centre are poised to reopen ahead of an expected surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations as current capacity is pushed to the limit.

Manitoba chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin reported 374 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday — 276 in the Winnipeg region — and said two more Manitobans had died.

Meanwhile, a record-setting 140 COVID-19 patients were in hospital, including 21 in intensive care.

Roussin said it’s difficult to estimate how many people currently diagnosed with COVID-19 will eventually need a hospital bed, but the number of people hospitalized this week is relative to cases reported seven to 10 days ago.

“We saw those high double-digits, low triple-digits. Now we’re seeing upwards of 200, 300 cases,” Roussin said. “We expect those (hospitalization) numbers to increase.

“Whatever numbers we’re seeing now, we’re going to see the effects of those in hospital about a week from now.”

Chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said the former women’s hospital on Notre Dame, which closed in December, is being set up to handle patients who don’t have COVID-19.

The additional capacity is needed as medicine units at HSC are turned into dedicated COVID-19 wards.

Shared Health said two floors in the old women’s hospital are already in use. One unit opened in the spring for surgical and medical patients and another reopened in October.

Siragusa said 216 non-urgent and elective surgeries have been cancelled in Winnipeg to date to free up space and staff to care for COVID-19 patients. More procedures will be postponed as demand increases.

“Our planning looks at the creation of incremental capacity in response to rising cases,” Siragusa said. “We are not intending to, nor are we aiming to, create a mass number of staffed, vacant beds immediately.”

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, 72 of the province’s 80 ICU beds were in use — 21 of them by COVID-19 patients. Capacity was at 90 per cent.

Siragusa said provincial ICU teams meet daily to discuss space and allocation of beds. She plans to release more information on Friday about Shared Health’s plan to supply the critical care space and equipment needed to manage the growing caseload.

Roussin reported the deaths of a woman in her 80s, who lived at Maples Personal Care Home in northwest Winnipeg, and a woman in her 90s linked to the outbreak at St. Boniface Hospital.

Eighty-seven Manitobans have died of COVID-19 — 21 of them in the past week, the top doctor said.

Influenza, by comparison, claimed the lives of 21 Manitobans in all of 2019, Roussin said.

“We’ve learned a lot over time about this (coronavirus), but what we always knew was this is not simply the flu. It’s much more dangerous than the flu, and the flu itself is a dangerous bug,” Roussin said.

The five-day test positivity rate in Winnipeg was nine per cent, and 8.5 per cent provincewide.

All health regions reported new COVID-19 cases, including 12 in Interlake–Eastern; 14 in the Northern region; five in Prairie Mountain; and 67 cases in Southern Health. Manitoba had 6,751 total cases as of Wednesday.

Roussin said there is community transmission in the Southern Health region driving up the case count as well as institutional outbreaks, including some correctional facilities.

A new personal care home outbreak was reported Wednesday at Actionmarguerite. Roussin said three cases have been tied back to the facility in St. Boniface — all staff members.

He also provided updated COVID-19 case counts at some of the largest outbreaks in the province.

At Parkview Place Long Term Care Home in Winnipeg, there are 147 cases and 23 people have died, he said. At Maples Personal Care Home, there are 166 cases and eight people have died.

At Headingley Correctional Centre, which is experiencing the largest outbreak within a provincial jail, there are 112 cases (87 inmates, 25 staff).

Roussin also warned of an outbreak at the Keeyask generating station Hydro construction site in northern Manitoba, saying case numbers are pending.

He estimated the reproduction value of the novel coronavirus in Manitoba to be at or near two — meaning for every new case, two more people will become infected.

Roussin said that number needs to come down to below one. He reiterated the importance of self-isolation, He reiterated the importance of self-isolation, including from other family members if they have symptoms.

Residents of the Winnipeg metropolitan region are being told to stay home if someone in their household has symptoms, pending the result of a test.

“Everyone should be able to reduce their contacts somewhat, even within their household,” Roussin said. “We still see the higher case numbers even though a lot of us have put into action further restrictions. There is that lag, but we do have to act now to ensure we limit the transmission of the virus and limit the strain on our health care system.”

A new COVID-19 test site will open in Winkler on Thursday at 485 George Ave. A drive-up site will open on the University of Manitoba campus at Research Rd. in Winnipeg on Sunday.

— with files from Katie May

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca