Province needs clear directive on household gatherings By: Tom Brodbeck Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2020 (1417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s top doctor says he won’t reduce Manitoba’s five-person gathering limit — even though it allows households to intermingle as cases of COVID-19 rise — because it would be too difficult to enforce.

But a lack of enforcement tools didn’t stop Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, from demanding entire households self-isolate if one person at home has flu-like symptoms.

Roussin announced Monday that everyone living in the same home must now self-isolate if one person in a household is symptomatic, until that individual tests negative for COVID-19.

“This is a significant change,” said Roussin.

He didn’t just “urge” people to self-isolate, he demanded it, saying it was critical to help reduce the spread of the virus.

“If a family has a child at home with symptoms of COVID, that entire family is to self-isolate pending results of that test,” said Roussin. “So it means no one else goes to school, no one else goes to work until that test result is back.”

However, it’s not an official public health order (which requires approval from the minister of health). So it can’t be legally enforced through fines the way gathering limits can. But because it was a clear directive — not a fuzzy “urging” like some of Roussin’s recommendations — most Manitobans will likely comply.

So why not do the same for socializing outside of households?

Gatherings are limited to five people under Manitoba’s current pandemic rules. However, for households, it’s five plus the number of people living together. That means a family of four or five can have nine or 10 people socializing (including different people on various days) without masks or proper ventilation, for prolonged periods. It’s precisely those types of gatherings, including during Thanksgiving, that have contributed to growing caseloads in Manitoba.

Roussin has said repeatedly that Manitobans should try to limit their contacts with people outside their households. But he hasn’t demanded they stop doing it. He says that would be too difficult to enforce.

“We want to be able to keep it realistic for what we can enforce,” Roussin said Friday when asked why he hasn’t reduced gatherings to zero, at least for households. “It’s kind of a tough thing to put in an order because it’s a real tough thing to think about enforcing.”

That may be. But most public health orders during this pandemic have not been rigorously enforced (including mandatory mask wearing) because the vast majority complies voluntarily.

When Roussin issues a clear directive, whether it’s an official order or not, people tend to fall in line. But if it’s a vague recommendation like “limiting your contacts,” people will interpret it as optional.

Despite Premier Brian Pallister’s claim Tuesday that handing out more fines is a “big part” of flattening the COVID-19 curve, it appears most Manitobans don’t need to be coerced into following the rules. But they do need clear, concise direction.

If Roussin demanded people stop socializing outside their homes — the way he has directed households to self-isolate — most people would likely comply.

Until that’s done, many will consider it acceptable to intermingle with other households because they’re in compliance with the household-plus-five rule. Roussin admits the soft approach of urging people not to socialize outside their homes isn’t working.

“We’ve messaged that for quite some time, we’ve seen the numbers go up so now we’ve had to take further action to decrease the ability of people to do that by shutting down many things, by further limiting capacity in other areas,” said Roussin.

That means local businesses — including bars and restaurants — are paying the price.

Given the soaring caseload in Winnipeg and the real risk that hospitals could be overwhelmed within days, Roussin should issue a clear directive that, for the short-term at least, households should not interact with other households.

The alternative is more business closures, the risk of severe hospital overcrowding and sadly, avoidable deaths.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom has been covering Manitoba politics since the early 1990s and joined the Winnipeg Free Press news team in 2019.

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