Manitoba puts contact tracing in individuals’ hands

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This article was published 20/12/2021 (1467 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans who come down with COVID-19 will be relied on to share their positive status with personal close contacts, as provincial public health officials cut tracing efforts amid a spike in cases.

Public health officials reported 809 new COVID-19 cases over a three-day period this weekend, including 276 cases reported Saturday, 333 cases Sunday, and 200 on Monday in their first update since Dec. 17.

For the most part, impacted Manitobans will have to reach out directly to people they were around in the 48 hours before symptoms appeared, and in the 10 days after, to tell them they’ve been exposed to the novel coronavirus.

As of Monday, public health officials will no longer notify close contacts of cases — with resources being directed to the vaccination effort, the provincial government said.

“With the introduction of the Omicron variant of concern, Manitoba is anticipating a surge in COVID-19 cases similar to that seen in other countries and provinces,” the government said in a release. “This increase in cases and contacts is expected to exceed public health contact notification resources.”

However, public health officials said in some settings, such as schools, personal care homes, child care facilities, shelters, and health-care facilities, the government will work with the facility to notify close contacts.

Winnipeg-based epidemiologist Cynthia Carr said at the speed that Omicron can spread, it’s simply not possible for contact tracing to keep up, even as Manitobans reduce their close contacts as new restrictions come into effect Tuesday.

“This is why you want to make your number of contacts as small as possible, so you can easily identify who you’ve been around and have a trust-based relationship,” Carr said. “You’re not responsible for being the doctor or anything else, but you are responsible for letting people know that you have been diagnosed.”

However, without robust case investigations, public health will miss collecting important data that could provide a better picture of how the virus is spreading in the community, she said.

“But the reality is, in terms of protecting, speed is of the essence,” Carr said. “So as long as the person is willing to follow up with their potential contacts as quickly as possible, and understand how important that is, that might actually be faster.”

Carr added the federal COVID Alert application could also be useful in the current situation, if there is widespread use.

Meanwhile, the province confirmed nine more cases of the Omicron variant of concern, raising the total to 17. Public health does not report the number of presumptive Omicron cases.

The proportion of COVID-19 tests coming back positive also spiked across the province.

The five-day test positivity rate in Winnipeg was 8.1 per cent, and eight per cent across Manitoba, an increase of 1.5 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively, from Dec. 17.

“You’re not responsible for being the doctor or anything else, but you are responsible for letting people know that you have been diagnosed.”–Cynthia Carr

Six recent deaths due to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus were also reported Monday, including: a man in his 60s, a woman in her 60s, and a man in his 70s from Interlake-Eastern (reported Saturday); a man in his 80s from Southern Health (reported Sunday); a man in his 70s from Southern Health, linked to the outbreak at the Manitoba Developmental Centre (reported Sunday); and a man in his 50s from Prairie Mountain (reported Monday).

The province’s COVID-19 death toll stood at 1,366, as of Monday.

A total of 137 patients were being treated for COVID-19 in Manitoba hospitals, including 27 in intensive care.

Eighty-one per cent of active COVID-19 patients in intensive care were not vaccinated.

On Monday, the Opposition NDP called on the provincial government to resume daily COVID-19 briefings, given the high case counts over the weekend.

“Manitobans have been doing their part and they deserve to have access to the latest public health numbers so that they can make informed decision over the holidays,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said in a news release.

“The PCs should return to daily COVID updates to facilitate this and step up enforcement in parts of the province where we haven’t seen buy in to public health orders and the vaccination campaign.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca