Keeping virus variants out of Manitoba no easy task

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This article was published 04/02/2021 (1870 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The ability of Manitoba to stop the spread of COVID-19 will be put to a new test amid the appearance of more contagious variants in Saskatchewan, and the absence of a plan to erect border checkpoints.

“For variants, there is no playbook or blueprint for what to do,” said Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, a renowned University of Manitoba virologist.

“It’s certainly a difficult problem to address.”

In recent weeks, virus variants have emerged that make COVID-19 easier to transmit. The mutations might be more deadly, could infect people a second time, and might also be more effective at infecting people who have been vaccinated.

Manitoba has so far not tracked any variants in the 5 per cent of positive test samples that it screens. Saskatchewan announced Tuesday that two cases of the B.1.1.7 strain emerged in tests taken in mid-January, involving someone who had returned from the United Kingdom, and one of their close contacts.

Last Friday, Manitoba expanded its quarantine requirement because of such variants, meaning anyone who arrives in Manitoba, aside from essential workers, must self-isolate.

Kindrachuk, who has been critical of Manitoba’s COVID-19 response, said the province’s decision to broaden the quarantine was the right move.

“Manitoba has set the tone. Outside of the Atlantic bubble, we haven’t seen other provinces that have done this,” he said.

“I think the stance they are taking is quite admirable.”

For months, the Atlantic provinces prevented COVID-19 cases arriving from the rest of Canada by requiring people to quarantine upon arrival. The provinces have ended the so-called Atlantic bubble, but New Brunswick still requires a quarantine and pre-registration before arrival.

Kindrachuk said Manitoba probably wouldn’t benefit by putting up checkpoints at the more than 70 roads linking it to Saskatchewan and Ontario.

“What do those resource allocations take away from? Because you can’t just bring in added people; you have to move them from somewhere else,” he said.

The Justice Department said officials have put up signs at provincial borders about the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days, and the penalties for not doing so.

“Enforcement efforts are fluid and adjusted on an as-needed basis. Communication and education remain the focal point of these efforts,” a spokeswoman wrote.

Meanwhile, the federal government is looking at expanding its mandatory hotel quarantine for air passengers to include the land border.

Manitoba acting deputy chief public health officer Jazz Atwal said the province is part of those talks. “They’re finalizing some of their work,” he said of Ottawa.

Kindrachuk said there might be some small-scale ways to monitor people who arrive from other provinces, such as checking in on people with non-Manitoba licence plates, or have Liquor Mart staff take note of people who present out-of-province driver’s licences.

By far, he said, the best thing to do is follow the long-standing advice to avoid gatherings, wear a mask and wash one’s hands.

“We can’t cover every piece of terrain possible to stop the potential incursion of this virus into the community,” Kindrachuk said, adding the province’s contact-tracing system must be up to the task.

“Our greatest strength is trying to pick up (variant) cases, if and when they first are identified, and figure out how, as quickly as possible, to ensure transmission does not sort of take off.”

That will be crucial to avoiding another lockdown, said Atwal.

“If something is more communicable, (if) it has the same impact on morbidity, morality hospitalizations (as existing strains), obviously that would impact our ability to loosen the orders, if a variant does ever come hold in Manitoba.” 

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca