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Brandon University has asked their Senate to approve a delayed start to the Winter Term which was supposed to begin January 4, 2022. The University has also announced it will be moving to primarily remote learning until the end of January at the earliest.

If the delay is approved by the BU Senate, the school would still open as scheduled on January 4th, but classes would not start until the week after. The purpose of the delayed start is to help faculty make the shift to remote learning.

The BU Senate controls the academic calendar for the school and is expected to meet as soon as possible. Details will be shared with the BU community once the decision has been made.

Brandon University follows the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg in their decisions to start the Winter Term remotely and reevaluate mid-January, once they have a better idea of the situation.

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Manitoba Health officials say they will no longer be notifying close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19. It will now be the responsibility of the person who tested positive to reach out to their close contacts.

Due to the expected increase in cases and contacts with the emergence of the Omicron variant, public health believes the numbers will surpass their resources.

They still plan on doing contact tracing in certain situations, such as outbreaks in schools and care homes, but the focus of resources will be shifted to the provinces vaccination campaign.

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The University of Manitoba has announced that it will have remote classes to start the winter term according to University President and Vice-Chancellor Michael Benarroch. The U of M follows the University of Winnipeg who made their announcement to start the new term remotely last week.

Benarroch says they will reevaluate the situation as they approach their winter break at the end of February and then they will decide if they are going back to in-person classes or if they will continue remotely. Limited in-person activities will continue if it is absolutely necessary and there is no reasonable remote alternative.

More information will be given to students by their faculties, and staff will receive the info they need from their supervisors.

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UPDATE: Brandon Regional Health Centre has been added to the list of hospitals postponing surgeries. All elective endoscopies at the BRHC will be postponed to allow staff to support the intensive care unit.

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The province has announced that starting today, it will be canceling more surgeries to make room for any emergency and cancer surgeries that could potentially come up in the next few weeks.

According to Shared Health, surgical capacity will not be reduced, but it will be prioritized for those who need emergency or urgent surgery.

Patients whose procedures are being affected by the change will either be told their surgeries have been postponed or the location of the surgery has changed.

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Ottawa is responding to Manitoba's request for nurses as hospitals grapple with spiking COVID-19 cases.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says nurses from the Canadian Red Cross are being sent to Manitoba and will remain in the province until January 17th.

Blair's office says as many as eight emergency acute-care nurses will be deployed.

Red Cross officials say they're still trying to determine exactly where to send the additional help.

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The Canadian Government announced that they're bringing back a requirement for everyone entering the country to have a pre-arrival negative molecular test result for COVID-19, even if travellers are returning after being away for less than 72 hours.

Canada is also removing their ban on all travellers who have recently passed through 10 African countries which the federal government introduced late last month in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant first identified in South Africa.

Canada's chief public health officer Doctor Theresa Tam says over the past seven days, Canada has seen an average of five-thousand new COVID-19 cases daily.

That's 45 percent higher than the previous seven-day period.

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Manitoba's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Health Minister Audrey Gordon have announced new restrictions that will come into effect Tuesday. The restrictions will be in place until at least January 11th.

The restrictions that start Tuesday are

  • Private gatherings will be household plus ten people if all above 12 are vaccinated

  • If even one person is unvaccinated then it's limited to household members plus 5 people.

  • Public indoor gatherings are to be at 25% or 25 people whichever is lower.

  • Outdoor gatherings are limited to 50 people.

  • Gyms, theaters, licensed venues, and museums are limited to 50% capacity

  • Restaurants, both licensed and unlicensed will have a max of ten people per table and everyone must remain seated.

  • Faith gatherings that require vaccination can have 50% capacity.

  • Faith gatherings that don't require vaccination are limited to 25% or 25 ppl whichever is lower.

  • No sports tournaments are allowed

  • Games and practices are allowed, spectator capacity is limited to 50%.

  • Large indoor events are limited to 50% capacity.

 

Settings that previously required people to show proof of vaccination will still have to do so.

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The Dauphin Hospital Foundation has received a very generous donation from the estate of Anne Stewart. Mrs. Stewart passed away earlier this year and left the hospital foundation $100,000.

Foundation Chairman Greg Thompson said the board is truly touched by Mrs. Stewart's generosity. She had also donated $15,000 to the hospital in 2020 in memory of her husband Peter.

Thompson said one of the areas the donation will go towards is the Dauphin Regional Health Centre Palliative Care Project.

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On December 15, 2021, at approximately 9:00 pm, Portage la Prairie RCMP received information regarding a social media post where a male youth was seen holding a firearm and threatening students and staff at the Portage Collegiate Institute.

An investigation was immediately launched which led to the arrest yesterday morning of a 14-year-old male, from Portage la Prairie.

He was later released for court scheduled for April 13, 2022, in Portage la Prairie.

Officers located and seized the firearm displayed in the online photo which was confirmed to be a BB gun.

Portage la Prairie RCMP continues to investigate and further arrests are possible.

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The Government of Manitoba has announced a program to offer free rapid covid-19 tests to all First Nations schools for students in kindergarten to grade six.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon and Education Minister Cliff Cullen said in a news release on Friday that the amount of tests is very limited after receiving a shipment of rapid antigen tests from the federal government.

The province says once more tests become available they will offer them to more school divisions across the province.

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The University of Winnipeg has announced that they will be moving to remote learning for the start of their 2022 Winter Term. The plan is to have classes be remote until at least the February reading week. Some classes and labs will remain in person if necessary.

The University will re-evaluate the situation at the end of January and decide whether they are going back to in-person or continuing with remote classes.

The current Fall Term exam schedule will continue as planned.

Find the full release from the University of Winnipeg here.

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