Nine deaths, 431 new cases of COVID-19 reported in province

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This article was published 11/11/2020 (2097 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba recorded its third-highest COVID-19 case count to date and a record nine deaths Wednesday, as questions were raised about one of the most restrictive new measures set to take effect today as part of a provincewide lockdown.

Public Health reported 431 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, with 252 in Winnipeg, 101 in the Southern Health region, 33 in the Northern region, 32 in the Interlake-Eastern region and 13 in the Prairie Mountain region. Test positivity rate in the province is 10.7 per cent in the province and 10.8 per cent in Winnipeg.

As for the lockdown and how it impacts individual households, some confusion arose Wednesday night when CBC reported the province was walking back on a directive Tuesday from Manitoba’s chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, which had restricted social gatherings in single households to five people.

Roussin immediately jumped on social media, asserting even though the directive can’t be legally enforced, it’s absolutely the right thing to do.

“Manitobans don’t need a law to do what is right — restrict your social interactions to your household. Not because you’ll be fined, but because it’s the right thing to do to fight,” he tweeted. “We don’t have time to waste on semantics and legal loopholes. #Stayhome to stop the transmission of #COVID19.”

A senior government medical source contacted the Free Press with a similar message.

“Nothing is being ‘walked back’, and to report otherwise could hamper public health efforts to get these COVID numbers under control,” the source said.

But Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew believes one of the most crucial regulations about to go into effect is being weakened.

“The last-minute undermining of Manitoba’s top doctor’s orders could only have been made by the Premier or Health Minister. This is a serious threat to our ability to fight COVID-19 in the province and will only cause confusion and doubt regarding public health measures. It requires immediate explanation and, more importantly, reinstatement,” Kinew said, in a statement late Wednesday night.

There are currently 5,676 active cases in the province, 218 individuals in the hospital, including 32 in the ICU.

The recorded deaths are a man in his 60s from Winnipeg; a woman in her 60s from the Northern region; a man in his 70s from the Southern Health region; two men in their 70s from Winnipeg linked to the St. Boniface hospital outbreak and the Parkview Place outbreak respectively; a man in his 70s linked to Misericordia Place Personal Care Home; a woman in her 70s from the Interlake-Eastern region; a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg linked to Victoria General Hospital outbreak and a man in his 80s from Winnipeg linked to Seine River Retirement Residence.

All of Manitoba will be locking down and moving into the critical (red) level starting today, barring travel to and from northern Manitoba, and shuttering all non-essential businesses for at least two weeks.

Meanwhile, Revera Inc. released a statement Wednesday apologizing for providing contradictory information to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority on the number of staff present at Maples long-term care home during the weekend wherein the bodies of eight residents were removed from the care home in 48 hours. While Revera told the WRHA Saturday that 13 of 15 aides had been on shift for several hours Friday night, only seven were actually on duty.

“We learned that Revera inadvertently provided inaccurate information about staffing levels during a weekend news conference about The Maples,” Revera president and CEO Thomas Wellner said in the statement.

“This was a terrible mistake and, once discovered, one we immediately corrected. We also apologized to the families of our residents, our residents themselves, and to all of the people of Manitoba.”

The WRHA said Monday it would be providing a team of clinical staff to monitor Winnipeg care homes regularly.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation will be instating a two-week full lockdown effective immediately after the first COVID-19 death in the northern community was announced Tuesday.

According to OCN chief Christian Sinclair, the person was a resident of the Rod McGillivray Memorial Care Home.

Sinclair said OCN is currently sitting at a test positivity rate of 20 per cent — nearly double that in Winnipeg — and as of Tuesday had 47 active cases in the community.

— with files from Jason Bell

 

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_