Close contact numbers cloud public health vision
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2021 (1180 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Before patio beverages and picnics in the park were permitted, Manitobans were already collecting dozens of close contacts — including more than 100 people forced to self-isolate after one tested positive for COVID-19.
New data from the province shows the week before public health restrictions were eased, at least one Winnipegger who got sick with COVID-19 had 49 close contacts, and another person in the Northern Health region who caught the virus had 121.
“We can’t lose sight of COVID, we can’t lose sight of that delta variant, we can’t have that many contacts on average,” chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday during a noon-hour news conference.
Young girl’s death ‘another tragedy’
Manitoba’s top doctor is urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, after the death of a young girl was reported over the weekend.
Manitoba’s top doctor is urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, after the death of a young girl was reported over the weekend.
On Sunday, public health officials said a girl under the age of 10 from Winnipeg died after contracting the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
On Monday, Roussin said the girl had underlying health conditions. No other details were shared to respect the privacy of the family.
“This is another tragedy during this pandemic,” he said.
In Manitoba, severe outcomes, such as death or hospitalization, related to COVID-19 in children are rare, the top doctor said.
In late November, a nine-year-old Manitoba boy also died after getting COVID-19.
Currently, children under the age of 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated. Despite that, Roussin said public health is not expecting to see an increase in severe outcomes among youth, even with more infectious variants of concern.
“We know that the virus can change over time, and so we’re constantly surveilling that, but, thankfully, severe outcomes have been quite rare in the younger children,” Roussin said.
As restrictions are eased, Manitobans who cannot get vaccinated, including children, and people with health conditions that may make them vulnerable, will have to make individual COVID-19 risk assessments, he said.
“The No. 1 message is to have as many people around them vaccinated as soon as possible,” Roussin said. “Ensure everyone around them is fully vaccinated, decrease the amount of contacts outside the household, and practise those fundamentals.”
“We still need Manitobans to follow by these current public health orders, we still need them to be well-aware of COVID, that COVID is still in our province, we’re still seeing transmission. If we see significant increases in the amount of contacts we have overall, then yes, we are at risk of seeing increase in the amount of cases.”
The province’s top doctor said he didn’t know the circumstances that led to one person having 121 close contacts while they were infectious — and added they may have followed pandemic rules.
“When we talked about our reopen plan, we still had those two requirements: to get vaccinated, which we see Manitobans are doing, but we also need to follow those public health orders, which should diminish the amount of people who have those very high number of contacts,” Roussin said.
About 15 per cent of close contacts develop a COVID-19 infection, Roussin said. However, vaccination will offset the impact of having a high number of contacts, so long as people have both required doses.
The provincial data covers the period between June 13 and 19.
During that time frame, in Interlake-Eastern, there were 79 cases, and at least one person had 41 contacts.
For Southern Health, there were 185 cases, and at least one person had 31 contacts. In Prairie Mountain, there were 79 cases and the highest number of contacts for one case was 20.
Public health orders were eased June 26 to allow (among other items) for gatherings outdoors with up to 25 people, increased capacity in retail settings, the reopening of restaurants and fitness centres, and the resumption of organized sports.
The record for close contacts was set when one Winnipegger who caught COVID-19 had a total of 249 close contacts. The province was unable to say Monday at what point in the pandemic that individual case was reported to public health.
Roussin said the most recent close contacts stem from a mix of interactions, from social gatherings to work and in the household. Public health nurses and contact tracers remain quite busy, he added.
The province considers a number of variables when determining whether a person is a close contact, including face mask or personal protective equipment use, the type of interaction, adherence to social distancing, and length of exposure.
In general, prolonged exposure is considered to be a period of more than 10 cumulative minutes of a 24-hour period.
Roussin said as case counts decline, public health is able to dial in on areas where COVID-19 is spreading. In all areas where transmission occurs, numbers are diminishing, he said.
“We’re on the right trajectory, but we’re not out of the woods.”
On Monday, the province reported 61 new infections, from 1,468 tests.
New cases were reported in all health regions, with 27 in Winnipeg, 20 in Interlake-Eastern, eight in Northern Health, four in Southern Health, and two in Prairie Mountain.
The five-day test positivity rate was 6.2 per cent across the province and 5.8 per cent in Winnipeg.
No new deaths due to COVID-19 were announced Monday. There have been 1,139 fatalities reported since the pandemic began.
On Monday, 194 Manitobans were receiving hospital care for COVID-19, including 183 in-province (50 in intensive care).
Eleven patients are receiving treatment in Ontario ICUs. No patients were transferred out of province for treatment Sunday.
Seventeen of the 61 COVID patients receiving intensive care are under the age of 40, a spokesman for Shared Health said.
In total, there were 118 people in Manitoba’s ICUs as of Monday morning. The pre-pandemic capacity was 72 beds.
danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
Ticking toward target
Manitoba is making strides toward its second vaccination target for reopening, with 72.9 per cent of the population partially immunized and 38 per cent fully vaccinated, as of Monday.
Manitoba is making strides toward its second vaccination target for reopening, with 72.9 per cent of the population partially immunized and 38 per cent fully vaccinated, as of Monday.
However, should the province hit its goal of immunizing 75 per cent of the population and fully dosing 50 per cent before Aug. 2, restrictions may not immediately be lifted.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday he wants to wait at least two weeks before moving forward with any additional reopening, if vaccination targets are met ahead of schedule.
“We’ve said all along that if we hit our targets early, and all else being equal, then we could be at a stage to open earlier than planned,” Roussin said. “We did this with Step 1 and it’s looking like we’re going to be able to do that with Step 2, as well.
“We do need a reasonable amount of time between the openings, and I would put that reasonable amount at, at least, one incubation period.”
To reach the 75 per cent mark, a total of 881,777 Manitobans have to receive their first dose.
Thus far, provincial data shows 871,994 first doses have been recorded in Manitoba.
In the past week, Manitoba has recorded an average of 2,582 first doses a day.
However, the province has said its population coverage calculation does not include non-residents and people who do not have valid information in its public health information management system.
Those doses are recorded on the province’s vaccination online dashboard, however.
To reach the goal for doubly dosed Manitobans, the province needs to administer at least 137,030 more shots.
In the past week, the province averaged 20,592 second doses a day.
The government has also resumed booking Pfizer vaccine appointments. The province said Pfizer shots are available for the end of July at all its super sites.
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History
Updated on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 8:53 AM CDT: Changes photo
