Today Health and Seniors Minister Audrey Gordon and Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced that the mask mandate is being reinstated starting tomorrow.
Mask use will be required in all indoor public spaces across the province starting at 12:01 a.m.
The province is also expanding the vaccine passport benefit for fully immunized individuals that will enable businesses, services and events to be available without capacity limits or public health restrictions as of September 3rd.
Starting on September 3rd, there will be new requirements for people to be fully immunized to participate in certain events and activities:
• indoor and outdoor ticketed sporting events and concerts
• indoor theatre/dance/symphony events
• restaurants (indoor and patio dining)
• nightclubs and all other licensed premises
• casinos, bingo halls and VLT lounges
• movie theatres
• fitness centres, gyms and indoor sporting and recreational facilities (excluding youth recreational sport)
• organized indoor group recreational classes and activities, and indoor recreational businesses
Children 11 and under who are not eligible to be immunized will be able to attend events and activities with a fully immunized adult.
Audrey Gordon says as of right now over 81 percent of eligible Manitobans have had at least one dose, and more than 76 percent have had two doses, but that there's more to do to protect Manitobans.
"Now Public Health Officials tell us the pandemic is one of the unimmunized. Currently, there are more than 406 thousand Manitobans who are not yet vaccinated."
She adds that of these, nearly 230 thousand are children under the age of 12 and not eligible to be vaccinated.
"We need to do everything we can to protect them from COVID-19, especially as they return to school."
The minister noted these new public health orders complement the mandatory vaccination steps taken earlier this week requiring all designated provincial public service workers who have ongoing contact with vulnerable populations, especially children, to be fully immunized.
Dr. Brent Roussin says the majority of recent cases have been from unvaccinated people.
"Today 26 of the 31 new cases were not fully immunized, that's almost 84 percent. These numbers are even higher if we look at ICU admissions, we see very few vaccinated people who are immunized requiring ICU admission."
Roussin says these public health orders will reduce the need for more stringent public health restrictions and lockdowns that would otherwise be necessary to combat the COVID-19 fourth wave and protect the province’s hospital and critical care capacities.
