Northern Manitoba reported 61 new cases of COVID-19 Jan. 28, two dozen of them from the Island Lake health district.
Thee were also 12 new cases of the virus in the Thomson/Mystery Lake health district, nine in the Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/God’s River/God’s Lake health district, seven in the Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Easterville/Chemawawin/Moose Lake district, three in the Gillam/Fox Lake health district and two in The Pas/Opaskwyak/Kelsey health district, where an outbreak was declared at St. Paul’s Personal Care Home in The Pas.
One case was also announced in the Nelson House/Nisicihawayasihk health district. Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) Chief Marcel Moody said in a Facebook update that the case was the second from the district involving someone actually living on-reserve and that a stay-at-home order is in effect with an 11 p.m to 7 a.m. curfew.
“The restrictions we have put in place have kept our community safe so far,” Moody wrote. “The number of cases has been increasing all around us. Our friends and relatives in other communities have been hard hit by COVID-19.”
Across the province, 133 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, though one previous case was removed due to a data correction, leaving the net increase in cases at 132. Winnipeg had the next highest regional total behind the north with 29 new cases.
Eight more people have died as a result of the virus, bringing the total number of deaths since the pandemic began to 821.
There are 277 Manitobans in hospital due to the virus, including 124 with active infections. Twenty-five patients who are still considered infectious are in intensive care, as are 12 whose cases are no longer considered active. These numbers include 41 northerners in hospital, four of whom are no longer considered infectious and five of whom are in intensive care.
Acting deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal said at a Thursday afternoon media briefing that even as case numbers drop, it can take some time for the number of people in hospital due to the virus to follow suit.
“Even in the north it seems like things are stabilizing and coming down,” he said. “We anticipate those [hospitalization] numbers will come down as long as our case numbers remain manageable and continue to trend in the right direction. Future numbers of cases will dictate how busy those ICUs are.”
Manitoba’s chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said the province is watching the number of northerners hospitalized due to their infections carefully.
“We are providing isolation facilities/space for them in the city, especially for those who are vulnerable and if they need to come to hospital, whether it’s medicine or ICU, we will make sure absolutely that we have the space for every Manitoban who needs it,” she said. “We are prepared to surge up if we need to. We hope we don’t have to but we always plan for the worst-case scenario.”
Manitoba has now passed 29,000 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began and the five-day test positivity rate for the province was 8.7 per cent on Thursday.
