Provincial COVID-19 case count jumps to 35 Health minister calls on private sector to help equip health system By: Larry Kusch and Carol Sanders Posted: 6:35 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2020 Last Modified: 7:37 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2020 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/03/2020 (1640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba reported a surge in presumptive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday while an unquantified test-processing backlog persisted at the Cadham Provincial Lab.

The province announced 14 new coronavirus cases, including a Winnipeg girl under 10 years of age, bringing the total to 35.

 

 

A city woman in her 60s has been admitted to hospital in critical condition, chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said. She’s in intensive care.

The province’s health minister refused to answer specific questions about the case — including when and how she came to hospital or whether she had been previously tested for the coronavirus, citing privacy legislation.

While officials were preparing for a jump in numbers, Roussin said "it’s too early to tell," how to interpret the one-day increase. He noted that in recent days, there have been either no new cases or only a single new case to report.

The new coronavirus cases include men and women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

"The age range that we see is to be expected," Roussin said.

While investigations are still underway, the new cases are believed to involve either returning travellers or their contacts.

He said he has no evidence yet of any "pop-up" or community transmission cases that are neither directly or indirectly linked to out-of-province travel.

As the number of positive cases swelled, Manitoba’s health minister called on the private sector Wednesday to pitch in to equip the health system for what is looking like a lengthy pandemic battle.

Cameron Friesen called on businesses to help supply such products as hand sanitizer, surgical/procedure masks and N95 respirators, while asking Manitobans to pitch in to provide security, laundry, food, pet care and IT support services.

Meanwhile, neither Friesen nor Roussin could quantify the size of the test-processing backlog for COVID-19 at the provincial lab, when asked by reporters on Wednesday.

“I’m told we are looking to clear the backlog within days, and we should be back to 500 tests a day within days,” Friesen said.

“I’m told we are looking to clear the backlog within days, and we should be back to 500 tests a day within days.” – Health Minister Cameron Friesen

Roussin said he had not received any reports on the size of the backlog, describing the process of test requisitions and completions as fluid.

"I received the amount of tests performed, and, of course, the positive tests come to me," he said.

On Tuesday, 352 tests were completed at the lab, although in recent days that number had fallen to between 200 and 250 due to a global shortage of "reagent," the COVID-19 testing material that extracts viral RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the nose swab samples, Roussin said.

He said the lab has since been able to make its own "viral transport medium," to work around the reagent shortage, and it is now ramping up test numbers.

Roussin was unable to say whether the identification of some of the new postive test results may have been delayed due to delays at the lab.

He reiterated that testing is only one of the tools the province has in fighting the coronavirus.

Manitobans can do their part to "interrupt the transmission of this virus," by adopting social distancing and other provincial orders and guidelines, he said.

The province is also looking at further restricting the size of public gatherings, now limited to groups of 50 people or less. (Saskatchewan is restricting groups to 10 people.)

"These are things that are currently evolving very quickly, and so I would expect news on that in the very near future," Roussin said.

The chief public health officer said he’s been concerned about reports of people going to health facilities without disclosing recent visits outside the province. He said it’s vital that patients inform health providers so they can take precautions.

"You must be honest about your recent travel," he said. "You will not be denied care but we need to be able to take those precautions if necessary."

So far, health officials say they’re not seeing an increase in visits to Winnipeg hospital emergency rooms for respiratory problems.

“You must be honest about your recent travel. You will not be denied care but we need to be able to take those precautions if necessary.” – Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin

Roussin was unmoved by calls for the government to release the results of any studies it has done on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths that could occur in Manitoba.

He said the province is using the information for planning purposes, and the numbers themselves are "very prone to misinterpretation."

Asked Wednesday to predict how long Manitobans will be battling the health emergency, Roussin said: "I think we’re looking at many, many weeks of this. We’re not looking at three weeks from now and we’re out of this, for sure."

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca