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Public health officials announced 480 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, along with some big updates to the Pandemic Response System for health regions across Manitoba.
An outbreak has been declared at the Grandview Personal Care Home, which has been moved to Critical (red). Health officials have explained that even a single case in a care home constitutes an outbreak. There have been no other details provided by the province at this time.
Back To The Orange ‘Restricted’ Level
Prairie Mountain Health — along with the Southern Health and Interlake-Eastern health region’s — will be moved to orange on the Pandemic Response System starting Monday. These regions now join in the Northern health region in the orange ‘restricted’ level.
The measures will be in effect for a minimum of 2 weeks. The following restrictions will be in place beginning Monday, November 2:
- Public and private group gathering sizes limited to five, in addition to household.
- Capacity limited to 50 percent at restaurants and bars, with group sizes limited to five.
- Reduced retail capacity to 50 percent, encouraging limiting those who go shopping from each household.
- Blended learning for grades 9 to 12, voluntary blended learning temporarily available for kindergarten to Grade 8, encouraging as much physical distancing as possible.
- Personal services have no change and stay at 50 per cent capacity.
- Reduced spectators at sports and recreation facilities to 25 per cent.
- Gyms and fitness centres require contact information for all attendees and mask use at all times, except when exercising.
- Faith-based gatherings are reduced to 20 per cent or 250 people, whichever is lower.
480 New Cases Announced Friday, Partly Due To Backlog
Of the 480 news cases, two were identified Sunday, four were identified Monday, 44 were identified Tuesday, 193 were identified Wednesday and 237 were identified Thursday.
Of today’s 480 new cases, the data shows:
- 42 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
- 25 cases in the Northern health region;
- 10 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
- 94 cases in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region; and
- 309 cases in the Winnipeg health region.
There are 2,737 active cases in Manitoba, and 2,572 people have recovered.
There are 104 people in hospital and 19 people in intensive care. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 65.
The following Parkland health districts have active cases: Swan River (4), Porcupine Mountain (2), Asessippi (8), and Whitemud (4). Dauphin no longer has any known active cases, with all 9 listed as recovered. Brandon has 7 active cases.
The Eriksdale-Ashern health district has 20 cases considered active.
Winnipeg Moving To Red
Effective Monday, November 2, the Winnipeg Metro Region will move to the Critical level (red) on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System. This includes the following changes:
- Bars and restaurants will be closed except for take-out and delivery.
- Most retail will be reduced to 25 per cent capacity.
- Sports and recreation programming will be suspended.
- Gyms and fitness centres will have reduced capacity to 25 per cent and masks will be mandatory, even when exercising.
- Movie theatres and concert halls will close.
- Personal services have no change and stay at 50 per cent capacity.
- Non-urgent and elective surgeries and diagnostics will be suspended. Scheduled surgeries in a number of essential and time-sensitive areas will continue to be performed including cancer, cardiac and trauma. Patients will be contacted directly if their scheduled surgeries are affected.
- Visitation at all hospitals in the Winnipeg Metro Region has been suspended, with exceptions made on a case-by-case basis for patients receiving end-of-life care, in labour and delivery, as well as in pediatrics.
- Faith-based gatherings are reduced to 15 per cent or 100 people, whichever is lower.
For more information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
You can expect to see a full moon in the sky this Halloween.
It’s known as a Blue Moon, meaning it’s the 2nd full moon in a calendar month.
If the skies are clear, you’ll also be able to see a bright red spot near the moon in the night sky — that’s Mars.
A blue moon on Halloween happens only every 19 years.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Don't forget to set your clocks back by one hour on Sunday morning.
Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November.
This year, the official change back to standard time will occur at 2 a.m., Sunday, November 1 — at which time clocks should be set back to 1 a.m.
There’s a growing sentiment in some parts of the country to do away with daylight saving time — but it doesn’t appear the practice will end in Manitoba anytime soon.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Using tongs to hand out candy, wearing a mask, and staying home if you feel sick are just some of the recommendations from the province to make trick-or-treating as safe as possible.
And while Parklanders are asked to take extra precautions this year, others say they won’t be participating at all, so CKDM wanted to find out what your plans are this Halloween.
Mavis from Dauphin is okay with handing out candy this year, as long as everyone follows the recommendations laid out by the province.
“If everybody follows the rules, it’ll be okay. Do what you can and give out packages that are already sealed.”
Tiffany says it’s important to make room for some fun, while taking public health advice into consideration.
“We don’t hold back on other things, so I don’t think we should hold back on the fun things either.”
Some Parklanders, like Rob, just aren’t comfortable with the increased number of contacts presented by trick-or-treating.
“If it’s done safely definitely, but this year with the way things are going I just don’t feel comfortable with going out or taking my granddaughter out.”
Leading up to Halloween, Dr. Brent Roussin has stressed the importance of limiting your number of close contacts – something Jordan from Dauphin will be taking into consideration with her child.
“Well I’m going to go out with my daughter, but she’s very small so we’re only going to my mom’s and my sisters.”
For a full list of provincial health guidelines for Halloween, click here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
A recent campaign looking into radon levels in the RM of Dauphin showed 71% of homes tested had levels above Health Canada’s guidelines.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas and is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, according to the national organization Take Action On Radon.
The results from last winter’s testing campaign show another 17% of homes tested in the RM of Dauphin had radon gas levels that were close to exceeding the recommended safe zone.
There are a number of ways to reduce radon gas levels, including increasing ventilation, sealing cracks, and installing a radon mitigation system.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Health officials have identified 193 new COVID cases and one more death in Manitoba today.
The most recent death is a man in his 80’s from the Southern-Health Santé Sud health region, bringing the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Manitoba to 62.
Today’s data shows:
- 21 cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region;
- 10 cases in the Northern health region;
- four cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
- 19 cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and
- 139 cases in the Winnipeg health region.
The following Parkland health districts have active cases: Swan River (1), Porcupine Mountain (2), Asessippi (8), Whitemud (2). Dauphin has 0 active cases. Brandon has 5 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 14 active cases.
There is a total of 4,894 cases across the province, 2,409 are considered active, and 2,423 are recovered.
There are 97 people in hospital and 17 in intensive care.
Health officials are advising of an outbreak at the Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach, which has been moved to critical (red) on the Pandemic Response System.
The province is encouraging all Manitobans that are taking part in Halloween festivities this weekend to follow public health guidelines.
For more information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
A hydro pole has been knocked down following a collision east of Dauphin.
RCMP, EMS, and the Dauphin Fire Department responded to the scene around 11:50 a.m on Thursday on Whitmore Ave E, near Gardewine and Norwex.
Traffic was slowed through the area while crews were on the scene, but the area has now fully reopened. RCMP say there were no serious injuries.
There's been no indication from Manitoba Hydro if there have been any service disruptions as a result of the damaged pole.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Manitobans will have to pay more for their natural gas starting Sunday, November 1st.
The Public Utilities Board announced that it approved Centra Gas Manitoba Inc.’s increase from $0.0932/m3 to $0.1081/m3.
This is set to raise the average customer’s bill by $31 per year.
Customers that have fixed-term fixed-price contracts with either Centra or a private broker won’t be affected.
The Public Utilities Board will review primary gas rates again on February 1st.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
As COVID numbers continue to rise, the number of hospitalizations due to the virus has also risen.
There are currently 89 people in hospital and 19 in intensive care because of COVID-19, which is putting a strain on hospitals in the province.
Chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa says they expect critical care to continue to fill up.
“If we have to go over capacity, we already are looking at what those models of care would be and how we would support patients. We’re not going to be denying any patient care, we’re going to figure out the solutions, it may be locally too though, that’s one thing provincially we are all working together to find solutions. But that first line of defence really is happening on a unit level or a hospital level to try and manage the resources from within. Then if it escalates, we all start working together and making sure all those sites in Winnipeg are working together, all the sites in the province are working together, so we will move patients and we have critical care capacity as well in Brandon and those are our two main critical care spots.”
Siragusa says capacity at the ICU’s in Winnipeg is continually being stretched and is at 92 per cent capacity, which leaves 6 beds available.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
A Dauphin woman facing manslaughter charges in connection to the death of a 26-year-old man over the weekend made her first court appearance this week.
43-year-old Ramona Tanner was in Dauphin on Tuesday, where her case was remanded in custody for November 10th.
Dauphin RCMP responded to a report of an injured, unconscious man at a home early on the morning of Sunday, October 25.
The 26-year-old man was pronounced dead by EMS when officers arrived on scene.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Residents at the Rideau Park Personal Care Home in Brandon are being relocated to other homes in the region after a water line break.
A total of 43 residents need to be temporarily relocated, with some going to locations in Minnedosa, Virden, Deloraine, Elkhorn, and Boissevain.
It’s anticipated that significant restoration work is needed prior to moving residents back to the Rideau Park Personal Care Home — although a specific timeline is not available at this time.
Prairie Mountain Health officials say the cause of a sprinkler system water line break at the care home in Brandon is still under investigation.
Prairie Mountain Health will provide updates when more details are available.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
