Reopening process to proceed with caution: Roussin

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This article was published 17/01/2021 (1439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pandemic restrictions may be eased as early as this weekend, but the province’s top doctor is still urging Manitobans to keep up their guard, for fear the coronavirus could gain momentum once again.

“If we start losing track of those fundamentals like we did back in October, if we increase the amount of contacts we have, we’re going to see those numbers climb,” chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday during a media briefing.

The province recorded 118 new infections on Monday; just 45 were detected in the Winnipeg health region. The last time the capital reported that many cases was Oct. 18. Provincewide, the five-day test positivity rate was 10.6 per cent, and was 7.3 per cent in Winnipeg. Labs performed 1,322 tests on Sunday.

Forty-six new cases were reported tn the Northern health region, 11 in Interlake-Eastern, nine in Southern Health and seven in Prairie Mountain.

“We’re going to start our reopening process. We need to do it in a continuous fashion. In a cautious fashion,” Roussin said. “We don’t want to have openings and then require closures again if our numbers get high.”

A regional approach to reducing restrictions is also being considered, he said. Currently, northern Manitoba is reporting a number of outbreaks driven in part by household and holiday gatherings — exacerbated by crowded living conditions.

“If we look at most of the province, we’re seeing the numbers go in the right direction, and we see that trend directly connected to the increased restrictions,” he said.

The top doctor said details about which sectors could see restrictions loosened will be shared this week.

“We’re going to try as early as we can this week to give that signal. We know that businesses appreciate some of that prior notice to get things moving,” Roussin said.

Results from the “Safely Restoring Services and Activities in Manitoba” survey conducted over the weekend, which was plagued by technical difficulties in the first hours of its launch, will also be shared. More than 37,000 people completed the survey as of Sunday morning.

As of Monday morning, a total of 289 people were in hospital receiving care related to COVID-19, including 35 patients in the intensive care unit. Of those patients, 135 were infectious. Roussin said COVID-19 continues to strain health-care resources, but the system has some space to manoeuvre.

The effect of outbreaks on First Nations communities and in northern and remote areas on hospital capacity also need to be factored into reopening plans. The Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordination Team reported on Monday that 44 per cent of all current COVID-19-related hospitalizations and 57 per cent of intensive care unit patients identify as First Nations.

“This is another reason for us to be cautious. We’re quite concerned about those outbreaks, we’re concerned that we’re seeing the increasingly disproportionate effect on First Nations,” Roussin said.

“And so there’s a lot of engagement happening right now to try to limit the impacts of these outbreaks, but we do have to be very cautious about also the burden on the health-care system as we see these outbreaks occur.”

Four more pandemic deaths were reported Monday: a man in his 80s linked to an outbreak at Rod McGillivary Memorial Care Home (Opaskwayak Cree Nation); a man in his 60s linked to an outbreak at Southeast Personal Care Home (Winnipeg); a woman in her 70s linked to an outbreak at Concordia Place (Winnipeg); and a woman in her 80s linked to an outbreak at Health Sciences Centre (Winnipeg).

New outbreaks were declared at Golden Door Geriatric Centre and Golden West Centennial Lodge in Winnipeg.

Outbreaks at Heritage Lodge Personal Care Home and Calvary Place Personal Care Home have concluded. Provincial data shows 37 total infections and six deaths were connected to the outbreak at Heritage Lodge. At Calvary Place, one infection and no deaths were reported.

Since March, 773 Manitobans have died from COVID-19.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca