Code red for Southern Health region By: Carol Sanders and Danielle Da Silva Posted: 7:00 PM CST Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 Last Modified: 8:29 PM CST Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 Updates

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Critical level pandemic restrictions will extend beyond the Winnipeg metropolitan region, as communities in Southern Health move to code red Monday.

Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said tougher measures are needed for the region, where 52 of Manitoba’s 243 new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday.

“Our cases have gone in the wrong direction,” Roussin said at a media briefing. “We’re seeing more cases, more strain in the health-care system.”

The Southern Health region — a 27,000-square-kilometre area that includes centres such as Portage la Prairie, Steinbach and Winkler — will be elevated to red/critical on the pandemic response system.

That means bars and restaurants will be closed to in-person dining, with only takeout and delivery allowed. Cultural and religious gatherings will be limited to 15 per cent or 100 people, whichever is less.

Grocery stores can continue to operate at current capacity levels (50 per cent), but all other retail outlets will have to operate at 25 per cent capacity or five people, not including employees. VLT and gaming establishments must close and businesses are told to let employees work from home where possible.

Sports and recreation programs are also suspended, and indoor and outdoor sports facilities must be closed. Face masks will be mandatory while exercising at gyms and capacity is reduced to 25 per cent.

Roussin urged residents of Southern Health not to wait until Monday, and avoid unnecessary outings starting this weekend.

“We need to make that change to dramatically decrease the transmission of this virus,” said Roussin, reminding residents it’s temporary and short-term pain will be worth the long-term gain in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We’ve got to get back on track.”

Evidence of community transmission in the region is most notable at institutions such as personal care homes and jails, and at large workplaces, such as the Exceldor poultry plant in Blumenort.

On Thursday, COVID-19 outbreaks were declared at two long-term care facilities in Steinbach; a third was added to the list Friday.

Maplewood Manor is now at critical level restrictions, after at least one case of COVID-19 was connected to the facility. This is the second time an outbreak has been declared at the assisted living centre.

Outbreaks are also ongoing at Bethesda Place, Rest Haven care home (and the associated Cedarwood Supportive Housing), and a medicine unit of the Bethesda Regional Health Centre.

The region is also home to three provincial correctional facilities currently in outbreak mode: Headingley Correctional Centre, Agassiz Youth Centre (Portage) and the Women’s Correctional Centre (Headingley).

Roussin said, as of Friday, the outbreak at the men’s jail in Headingley has grown to 141 cases (112 inmates and 29 staff).

Five deaths, 243 new COVID-19 cases for Manitoba

Posted: 5:42 PM CST Friday, Nov. 6, 2020

A woman in her 40s is among five COVID-19 deaths reported by the province Friday, as Manitoba's test positivity rate surpassed nine per cent and 243 new infections were added to the case totals.

Read full story

Data provided by the provincial government Thursday indicated at least three staff and 21 inmates at the Women’s Correctional Centre, and three staff and 10 inmates at Agassiz, have tested positive for the disease.

Meanwhile, two employees of the Exceldor poultry processing plant died in the past month, after becoming infected with the coronavirus. Sixty-one employees have tested positive since the beginning of October, a spokesperson for the company said. Forty-nine recovered.

Southern Health has reported a total of 16 pandemic deaths since March.

Asked Friday what message Roussin has for people living in southern Manitoba who may be opposed to increased restrictions, the top doctor said just asking to do the “difficult things” to stop virus transmission — cut back on contacts, stay home as much as possible — hasn’t worked.

“The only way we can get (restrictions) fully followed, especially very challenging ones, are to put these orders in place,” Roussin said. “One-hundred-and-sixty cases in the spring would have been quite alarming. We have 160 people in hospital right now.

“So this is real. We need to make a change right now.”

Roussin said community transmission in Southern Health is at its highest in the Steinbach district. The five-day test positivity rate for the province was 9.1 per cent.

“With the mobility of Manitobans, with the challenges that we saw in Prairie Mountain (in the summer)… to actually delineate a geographic area that makes sense, and also considering much of Southern Health is already in the critical-red because of the capital region orders, we decided to implement it at the regional level,” Roussin said.

Alongside the red level restrictions, people in Southern Health are now told to stay home and self-isolate if anyone in their household has symptoms of COVID-19, pending test results. The person with symptoms must self-isolate from others in their home.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca

Changes in Southern Health move to critical level

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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Danielle Da Silva
Reporter

Danielle Da Silva is a general assignment reporter.

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