No COVID-19 cases yet linked to anti-racism rally

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This article was published 21/06/2020 (1551 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The chief provincial public health officer cautions against reading too much into the fact no cases of COVID-19 have yet been linked to an anti-racism rally attended by thousands of people on June 5 in Winnipeg.

“We know outdoors is a much less likely transmission venue. We know that a lot of protesters were also taking precautions. Many were wearing masks,” Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday.

Officials did not try to stop the rally despite the fact its size contravened public health orders. An estimated 15,000 persons participated in the event that took place on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building. Many later also marched to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

With the two-week incubation period now past, it appears the large event did not create a new cluster of cases, or, in fact, any new infections at all.

While outdoor venues are safer than indoor events, Roussin is still advising against any large gatherings.

“We can see that the virus is not gone and large group settings — outdoors or indoors — are opportunities for a large transmission event to occur,” he said Monday.

Currently, gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed indoors and 100 people outdoors where members of the public are reasonably able to maintain a separation of at least two metres for the most part.

While it’s positive no identified COVID-19 cases have emanated from the rally, Roussin said he is not placing too much stock in a single event.

“We know that we didn’t have much of the virus circulating at that time, so we can’t really use just a single event like that to guide our policies going forward,” he said.

On Monday, the province announced one new case of COVID-19: a male truck driver in his 40s from the Southern Health region.

Three of the last six Manitoba cases have involved truck drivers.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba now stands at 314; no coronavirus sufferers are in hospital. There are 14 active cases.

Meanwhile, one of two cases identified Saturday — a woman in her 20s from the Winnipeg health region — was asymptomatic.

It was the first positive test as a result of routine asymptomatic surveillance, Roussin said. Close to 5,000 tests have been performed on asymptomatic people in the province.

Targeted testing of asymptomatic people — long-haul truck drivers, for instance — can be valuable, the province’s top public health physician said.

But the results so far show testing asymptomatic people should not be the focus of any testing strategy, he said.

In answer to a reporter’s questions, Roussin indicated a person who entered a Blumenort store and diner on June 10, despite having symptoms of the novel coronavirus (the person later tested positive), is unlikely to be penalized — although “nothing’s been ruled out.”

“I think for the most part, our approach has been education, has been getting the message out to Manitobans,” he said.

Reports of people with symptoms venturing out in public have been rare, Roussin said. Rather than blame and stigmatize those who do, he said he would prefer to encourage citizens to consider the health of others.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca