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The province has updated its mask-wearing mandate for children on school buses.
Masks will be required on school buses for all students, regardless of age.
This is a change to the previous ruling from the province, which made masks a requirement for only students Grade 4 and above.
The new rule includes drivers, students and any other passengers on the bus.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
School is back after the long weekend for the DRCSS on September 8th. Thanks to COVID, this school year will look a lot different.
DRCSS principal Norm Casavant says they’ve gone with the blended learning approach because of the 702 students they have scheduled at the high school.
“There simply wasn’t a way to keep students socially distanced appropriately so that health recommendations could be met. So, we’ve moved to a blended learning model where half of the students will attend Monday/Wednesday and the other half will attend Tuesday/Thursday and Friday will be a day where teachers continue to work one on one with students who need additional supports through appointments.”
Schools were given the option between having cohorts up to 75 students or ensuring two metres of distance between students while in class. Principal Casavant says they decided against cohorts because it would be virtually impossible to find 75 students that need the same courses and to keep them together.
“So we have chosen to do the two-metre distancing and all schools had that option if they could make it work, so we’ve chose to do that. Our classes are already set up in that two-metre distancing setup.”
That new setup for classrooms is one of the biggest changes Casavant thinks students will have to get used to.
“The most you would see in a class now is 15 desks, lots of classes if their numbers are only at 10, they’ll only have 10 desks, so that would be one thing they’ll notice right away. All the hallways are marked for which way the students need to be walking, all the locker bays are closed off, we won’t be using lockers because of the congestion that would occur in those areas.”
While the cafeteria space can still be used, lunch won’t be served and students will have to bring a lunch. Lunch hours have also been staggered so there are fewer students having lunch at the same time. In the DRCSS’ return to school plan, they say only students eligible for bussing will be permitted to use the cafeteria at lunch, other students will be asked to leave the building during their lunch hour.
When arriving at the school, students and staff will enter through the main doors and are expected to use the provided hand sanitizer. When leaving, students and staff are to exit through the gym doors and are also expected to use the provided hand sanitizer.
A thorough cleaning process will occur at the DRCSS. A minimum of twice per day, high touch surfaces (doors, handles, desks, chairs, etc.) will be thoroughly cleaned.
For more information on the DRCSS’ return to school plan, click here.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The Leader of the Official Opposition was in Roblin Tuesday afternoon for a socially distanced town hall, where he addressed concerns among community members about the recent suspension of their emergency department.
Wab Kinew says he was impressed with the large turnout of people who filled the Roblin Community Center parking lot, staying in their cars and honking horns to express their discontentment.
“Imagine a championship hockey game at the local arena — it was that many cars in the parking lot, and it was about healthcare. It tells me a lot of people in Roblin are upset their emergency department is going to be closed at 4:30 p.m. this Friday, and that they want the government to change their mind, said Kinew, adding "hopefully, the government does reconsider.”
Speaking with CKDM, the Manitoba NDP Leader touched on the potential long-term impacts on the development of the community, if the temporary suspension of health services were to result in a permanent closure.
“If you don’t have a local emergency department, that young family is going to think twice about moving here. Teachers, professionals, business owners, people who work in ag — they might thing twice about moving here if this thing is allowed to move ahead.”
Northwest Metis Council Vice President Frances Chartrand also spoke at the town hall, voicing concerns on behalf of the Metis community living in the R.M. and town of Roblin.
Health Officials Maintain This Is A Temporary Closure
In response to these concerns, health officials have maintained their intention is to restore health services as soon as staff shortages are addressed.
Petr Kresta, Chief Operating Officer of diagnostic services with Shared Health, told CKDM reporters the work to fill vacant positions has been going on for years, and unfortunately, there is a shortage of diagnostic staff — not just in Manitoba — but in most of the country.
“Rest assured that we are expending all possible efforts to deal with the situation, and to get a sufficient staffing level so we can resume providing diagnostic support in Roblin and return services to a pre-existing level,” said Kresta.
Kresta described the staff shortages in Russell, Roblin, and Shoal Lake as being at “a very serious level right now.”
Prairie Mountain Health, Shared Health, and Health Minister Cameron Friesen have said this is only a temporary closure due to diagnostic staff shortages.
“Our intent is to reinstate those services as soon as we have the staffing,” said Shared Health’s COO of diagnostic services.
Even with the temporary suspension of Emergency Department services, the Centre will continue to provide acute in-patient care, ECG exams, ultrasound service, and lab sample collection.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Emergency crews responded a collision Tuesday afternoon south of Dauphin around 4:10 p.m.
The Dauphin Fire Deaprtment, EMS and RCMP units were also on the scene at Highway 10, near the Dauphin airport.
Traffic was slowed down through the area.
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A man in Dauphin was taken to hospital after being stabbed over the weekend.
On Saturday, August 29th, RCMP responded to the stabbing outside of an apartment building on 2nd Ave NE in Dauphin.
The 71-year-old man was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
RCMP have arrested 26-year-old Marcus Mclean from Brandon. He is facing multiple charges including assault with a weapon, failure to comply, and possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes.
The investigation is ongoing.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Public Health officials have announced 18 new cases of COVID-19 today.
Manitoba now has a total of 1,232 cases, 459 are active and 759 people have recovered from the virus.
Seven of these new cases are in the Prairie Mountain Health region; none are in the Dauphin health district.
Investigations show that two of the cases announced today are from Prairie Mountain Health residents at the Brandon Regional Health Centre. There are now 3 cases linked to the centre.
Officials are also advising of two possible exposures of COVID-19 in Brandon, one at Warlock Tattoo and the second at East Side Mario’s.
To see the date and time for the possible exposures, click here.
Starting today, all visitors arriving at health-care facilities are required to wear a non-medical mask. This includes outpatients attending appointments at clinics within hospitals and health centres throughout the province.
You can find more information about COVID-19 in Manitoba here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
The provincial government announced today that through the Manitoba Restart Program, $4.4 million will be going to Brandon to create a new detention facility as an add on to the Brandon Police Service headquarters.
Justice Minister Cliff Cullen made the announcement saying they’re supporting the construction of new or enhancement of existing police detention facilities.
“Our government is committed to the safety of all Manitobans including safe conditions for detainees and the staff operating these facilities.”
The money in Brandon will be used to construct modular cells at the Brandon Police Station to address demand in the interim period while the designing and construction of the permanent structure take place.
The funding is being provided to ensure the BPS has a facility with the appropriate capacity to support their police agency.
The minister announced the province has also provided almost $200,000 to the Brandon Police this year through the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund for training and equipment upgrades, noting $25,000 of the funding was shared with the Brandon Bear Clan organization to purchase a van for their operations.
$3.5 million is also going to the Winnipeg Police Service to facilitate updates to its Central Processing Unit.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Parents will have an opportunity to ask questions and get answers from Mountain View School Division officials tomorrow evening.
MVSD Superintendent Dan Ward says the town hall will get started at 6:30 pm.
"Our assistant superintendent will receive questions and certainly parents, community members, and students can ask questions throughout the evening. It'll start off with a short presentation, it'll cover such things as what school's likely going to look like, we'll talk a little about what a cohort means, we'll present the new pandemic response system and how that applies to schools, we'll talk about the school year and how things may change."
Ward anticipates a lot of participants will be there just to listen and learn.
"If a question kinda pops into their head from the discussion, they may put it in the chat or ask a question live and hopefully we'll be able to provide an answer, or direct them to where an answer can be found. So, I think that's generally the goal and the plan is to have future meetings like this as well when things develop."
Ward hopes to have another town hall at some point in September.
The meeting will be hosted on Zoom, at the following URL:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82392735106?pwd=KzNLT1kyaUxNM1htU1AzVW9yOU5wdz09
You do not need to pre-register, but the meeting on Wednesday evening does require this password: 008939.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
There is some frustration in Roblin over the decision to relocate some diagnostic and emergency services out of town.
Volunteers with the Roblin Clinic Board took it upon themselves to begin recruiting more lab technicians, in response to concerns that their diagnostic and emergency services could be shut down due to staff shortages.
Sean Keeler, the board’s president, says they found an x-ray technician and a lab technician who were interested in moving to Roblin.
Despite the board’s attempt to fill the positions in Roblin, they were told by health authorities that the priority for seven vacant positions would be given to Russell and Shoal Lake, before Roblin.
The emergency department in Roblin will be shut down until further notice as of Friday, September 4, at 4 p.m. This follows the news from last week that two lab technicians from Roblin are being relocated to the Russell Health Centre.
A release from Prairie Mountain Health states a number of clinical services remain available at the Roblin District Health Centre, including in-patient care. Diagnostic services such as ultrasounds, ECG exams and phlebotomy (lab sample collection, including blood samples) are also available. Hours of operation in Roblin will be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew will be in Roblin on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. holding a socially distanced town hall with local residents upset over the provincial government's decision to move diagnostic services out of the community. CKDM reporters will be there to hear more from Kinew.
CKDM has reached out to Prairie Mountain Health for comment.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The Manitoba government is seeking feedback from the public on some proposed measures to combat rural crime and metal theft.
A new online questionnaire was announced Monday by Justice Minister Cliff Cullen.
Cullen says while the province will definitely be consulting with law enforcement on the issue, the government have launched the questionnaire “to hear from people in rural, northern and remote areas, as well as other Manitobans, about their experiences with crime, so we can ensure the justice system responds to their needs.”
The Justice Minister also said the province is also considering whether to adopt legislation from other provinces to improve Manitoba’s trespass laws and discourage stolen metal sales.
Manitobans can provide their feedback through the public engagement questionnaire at EngageMB until Oct. 31.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Public health officials announced 28 new cases of COVID-19 in their Monday update, and are reintroducing some travel restrictions to northern Manitoba communities.
The province says the increased number of cases in southern Manitoba is why public health will be reimplementing travel restrictions to northern Manitoba and remote communities, effective Thursday, September 3.
Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin also asked Manitobans to respect any travel restrictions that First Nation communities may have in place.
The 28 cases announced on Monday include 13 in the Prairie Mountain Health, with two in the Interlake-Eastern health region, six in the Southern Health region, and 7 cases in Winnipeg.
This brings the province to a total of 1,214 cases.
There are 469 active cases in Manitoba. The Brandon health district is home to 168 active cases.
None of Monday's cases are in the Dauphin health district, where there have been a total of 7 cases, all of which are recovered.
The number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 14.
Public health officials are advising of a possible exposure at the Frederickson Performance Centre, Unit F-1212 18th St. in Brandon on Aug. 17 from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and Aug. 23 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. While the risk of transmission is considered low, information is being provided to help people assess their risk and seek testing if symptoms appear.
Case investigations indicate that of the three cases identified at the Assiniboine Centre at the Brandon Regional Health Centre, two of the individuals were health-care workers and one is a patient. At this time, it appears the patient contracted the virus at the facility.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
