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There were 25 new cases of COVID-19 announced public health officials on Tuesday, and another death in Manitoba related to the virus.
Manitoba’s 13th COVID-related death is a woman in her 90’s from the Steinbach health district. Officials say the death is related to a known outbreak at Bethesda Place personal care home.
Of today’s 25 new cases, 10 are in the Prairie Mountain Health region. None are in the Dauphin health district, where there’s been 7 total cases — none of which are considered active.
To view a geographical breakdown of where COVID-19 cases are located, organized on health district, click here.
The province is encouraging Manitobans to return to the fundamentals to help stop the spread of COVID-19. This means not going out while you feel ill, practicing proper hand hygiene, covering your cough and physical distancing when you are with people outside your household. If you can’t physical distance, wear a mask.
Unless recommended by public health, only individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should go for testing. Individuals with symptoms are asked to seek testing as soon as possible once symptoms are present.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
During yesterday’s COVID update, Dr Brent Roussin clarified what code orange means for us in the Prairie Mountain Health region, but it still left some questions about what the impact on schools would be.
Mountain View School Division superintendent Dan Ward says government officials told them on Friday that at this point, the level orange restrictions don’t apply to schools in the health region.
“That being said, things could change at any time and if our chief public health officer deemed that this restricted level applied to schools, we have to be prepared for that. So, we’re certainly preparing for that possibility, but at this point in time it’s not having any direct impact on our reopening plans for September.”
Ward acknowledges there’d be a significant impact on students and staff if schools were moved into level orange and remote learning would have to take place.
“There is constant communication with government officials around that possibility and whether or not the orders, if we went into orange for school, would actually result in remote learning for 9-12. But that’s a distinct possibility as stated in the pandemic response document and so we do have contingency plans to essentially go into remote learning for grades 9-12 if we were required to by public health.”
Ward adds that they’d try to provide as much in-class learning as possible for kindergarten to grade 8 students, but they’d have to look at increased social distancing measures and changes to the cohort practices.
On the topic of Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen’s Safe Schools fund announcement yesterday, Ward says they were happy to hear of the additional funding. The superintendent says they’re spending more than they typically would this time of year, to prepare for the school year.
“Everything from additional cleaning supplies to additional PPE, although the province is supplying the masks, but we do have some additional needs for student services areas and other areas within our school system. We’re also looking at staffing and staffing levels, so the additional dollars will help. We’re still waiting for more details from the government in terms of how that will roll out but we’re certainly happy to hear.”
The first shipment of 70,000 disposable masks is on route to MVSD and they should be arriving in the coming days. Ward anticipates them to be an adequate amount for September. MVSD will be receiving cloth masks as well, but that amount hasn’t been determined yet.
Ward also clarified how school divisions will be able to use the government’s Safe Schools fund.
“Schools divisions will be required to spend down the original $48 million prior to accessing the additional $52 million. For MVSD, our COVID-19 savings from spring was approximately $1 million. We anticipate with additional expenditures in staffing and cleaning supplies, will expend that amount and will likely be accessing the additional dollars announced by government yesterday.”
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
A man from Brandon has died after his vehicle collided with an overpass on Highway 1.
Blue Hills RCMP responded to the collision around 9:05 a.m. on Sunday, August 23.
An investigation determined a 56-year-old man from Brandon was travelling eastbound on Highway 1, when his vehicle left the highway and collided with the concrete overpass support structure at Provincial Road 459.
The man was pronounced dead on scene, and police say he was wearing his seatbelt.
RCMP continue their investigation.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
A woman is facing a list of drug charges after RCMP executed a search warrant at a Minnedosa home.
On Thursday, August 20th, Minnedosa RCMP conducted the search, which located approximately 500 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 100 grams of purple heroin.
Purple heroin typically contains a mix of heroin, OxyContin, carfentanil, fentanyl or other illicit drugs.
32-year-old Lynsi Farough, from Minnedosa, has been arrested and is facing the following charges:
- Possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking,
- Possession of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking,
- Possession of proceeds of crime, and Fail to comply with a court order.
Farough will be appearing in Brandon Provincial Court on August, 24th, 2020.
The investigation is ongoing.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Manitoba health officials have identified 49 new cases of COVID-19 in their Monday afternoon update.
Thirty-five of the new cases are in the Prairie Mountain Health region, and Dr. Brent Roussin says a significant amount of those cases are from communal living colonies.
Manitoba now has a total of 993 cases, with 395 active cases, and a total of 12 deaths.
None of today's cases are in the Dauphin health district, where there have been 7 total cases, all of which are listed as recovered.
Clarity On New PMH Mask Rules
Starting today, masks will be mandatory in all public indoor places and at all indoor and outdoor public gatherings in the Prairie Mountain Health region.
A person who enters or remains in an indoor public place, including a business, retail or restaurant establishment, must wear a mask in a manner that covers their mouth, nose and chin without gapping.
Masks are not required in situations where people are able to be safely 2 metres apart (ie. sitting at your table in a restaurant that is safely distanced from other tables).
For a list of indoor public spaces and additional details, including the exemptions related to the public health orders, click here.
People who do not have to wear masks include:
• a child who is under five years of age;
• a person with a medical condition that is unrelated to COVID-19, including breathing or cognitive difficulties or a disability, which prevents them from safely wearing a mask; and
• a person who is unable to put on or remove a mask without the assistance of another person.
Gathering Sizes Restricted To 10 People, Indoors & Outdoors
Public gathering sizes, both indoors and outdoors, are limited to 10 people. This includes weddings, funerals, banquets, receptions and professional sporting activities.
A person at an outdoor public gathering with four or more people must wear a mask in a manner that covers their mouth, nose and chin without gapping.
More than ten members of the public may attend a business or facility that is allowed to open under these orders, if public distancing measures are in place to allow people to maintain a distance of at least two metres.
Unless recommended by public health, only individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should go for testing. Individuals with symptoms are asked to seek testing as soon as possible once symptoms are present.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
With some new public health orders going into effect on Monday, August 24 for the entire Prairie Mountain Health region, the local health authority has an update to their policies at hospitals and health centres.
Prairie Mountain Health officials say anyone entering their facilities at this time, for services or visiting, must bring and wear a mask.
PMH also states that everyone entering their facilities will be screened at the door.
Province-Wide Restrictions Coming Soon
The province recently announced all visitors arriving at health-care facilities will soon be required to wear a non-medical mask to be permitted into the site.
The province-wide measure takes effect on September 1, and also extends to outpatients attending appointments at clinics within hospitals and health centres throughout the province.
While primary care clinics and other locations providing health services are not currently included in the mask requirement, all Manitobans are strongly encouraged to wear a non-medical mask when seeking care, according to Health Minister Cameron Friesen.
Visiting A PMH Hospital
To learn more about PMH’s current hospital visitation policies, click here.
Visiting A PMH Personal Care Home
To learn more about PMH’s personal care home visitation policies at this time, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
This morning, Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced the creation of the Safe Schools fund to ensure safe and healthy learning environments in the fall.
Back in the spring, when schools closed, the province told the school divisions to keep the money they would save by having fewer costs.
Goertzen says that amount totals 48 million dollars.
He says that the province will be adding 52 million dollars to the fund to bring the Safe Schools funding to 100 million dollars.
This additional funding will be distributed on a per-student basis, with a portion of it to be held in reserve to be able to quickly respond to emerging challenges.
All school divisions will have access to the Safe Schools funding to provide masks and PPE to students, teachers, and other staff, enhance cleaning and sanitization, including more supplies and custodial staffing, increase bus transportation capacity, including additional bus drivers and routes, and ensure substitute teachers and educational staff are available to keep schools open and children learning.
Goertzen says 4.7 million masks have been delivered to school divisions from the province and there’ll be more to come throughout the school year.
Funding will also be available to enhance the sanitization of schools and buses and to ensure that school divisions have access to additional supports needed to keep schools clean and safe.
The province will continue to work with school divisions to assess the needs for this funding support and to identify challenges as they arise.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Public health officials have elevated the entire Prairie Mountain Health region to the ‘Restricted’ orange level of the Pandemic Response System.
They say the decision was made in response to the spread of the virus through gatherings in the region.
Going forward, everyone in the Prairie Mountain Health region must:
- Wear a mask in all indoor public places and at all public gatherings (indoor and outdoor).
- Limit public gatherings to a maximum of 10 people indoors and outdoors.
- Stay home when sick.
- Practice social distancing, hand washing/sanitizing and cough etiquette.
- Follow public health guidance on travel and self-isolation.
- Vulnerable people, such as seniors, are encouraged to exercise additional caution.
The restrictions regarding masks in public places — as well as the 10 person limit on indoor/outdoor gatherings — go into effect Monday, August 24.
These restrictions will remain in place for a minimum of two weeks. On Thursday, Dr. Roussin said it’s likely to be longer, depending on what kind of response there is.
Further direction or additional restrictions may be put in place by public health at any time.
We are expecting to learn more this afternoon in the 1:00 p.m. press conference with Dr. Brent Roussin.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Last night, Erin O’Toole was announced as the leader of the federal Conservative party, taking over from Andrew Scheer.
During his victory speech, O’Toole introduced himself to Canadians that haven’t voted Conservative and said he’ll work hard for their best interests.
O’Toole finished with 57 per cent of the vote, Peter MacKay finished in second place, Leslyn Lewis was third, and Derek Sloan placed fourth.
The new Conservative leader now has less than a month to get a team in place before Parliament returns.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The province has broken yesterday's record of the biggest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases with 72 new cases today.
45 of the new cases come from the Prairie Mountain Health region, 16 are in the Southern Health region, 9 are in Winnipeg, 1 is in the Interlake-Eastern region and 1 is in the Northern region.
Manitoba's chief public health officer says 47 of today's cases are clusters from Hutterite colonies, and added that around two-thirds of Saturday's cases also came from these types of "communal living communities".
The total number of cases in the province is now at 944.
The majority of the new PMH cases are linked to known clusters and the case in the Northern region is linked to the PMH region.
Even though 45 new cases were announced in PMH, none are in Dauphin, and all 7 cases that Dauphin has had are listed as recovered.
Province wide, there are 356 active cases, 7 people in hospital, and 1 person in intensive care.
576 people have recovered and there have been 12 deaths reported.
The province is once again reminding us that PMH has been elevated to the restricted level orange.
Starting tomorrow, masks are mandatory in all public indoor places and all public gatherings, outside too.
In addition, public gathering sizes, for both indoor and outdoor, will be restricted to just 10 people.
The province encourages those that live in the PMH region to take these precautions immediately to help slow the spread of the virus.
For up to date info on COVID in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Canadians are learning of another recall for produce from the United States.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the recall is for peaches from Fresno, California’s Prima Wawona — sold between June 1 and August 22.
A salmonella outbreak in the US linked to the peaches has caused illness in more than 60 people in nine states.
Earlier this summer there was a salmonella outbreak that led to the recall of some American imported red onions, where at least 379 cases of the illness were reported across Canada.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
