Masks once again became required attire in indoor public places in Manitoba on Aug. 28 as public health tries to control the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic without resorting to the strict lockdown measures that were employed during previous waves.
Various indoor and outdoor activities will also be limited to fully vaccinated people and children under 12 starting Sept. 3 in an effort to convince the nearly 20 per cent of Manitobans who haven’t received a single vaccine dose to reconsider getting jabbed.
The new public health orders were announced Aug. 27 by Health and Seniors Care Minister Audrey Gordon.
“The emergence of the Delta variant has changed things significantly. Now, public health officials tell us the pandemic is one of the unimmunized and we must take these extra steps to protect the nearly 230,000 children who are not yet eligible for immunization,” said Gordon. “Manitoba’s vaccine passport benefit will help encourage greater vaccine uptake, which is necessary to protect our health-care system from the COVID-19 fourth wave.”
Beginning Sept. 3, only vaccinated people and children under 12 will be able to go to movie theatres, dine at restaurants, or go to casinos, bingo halls and VLT lounges, as well as to indoor and outdoor ticketed sporting events and concerts, fitness centres and gyms, and indoor recreation facilities and classes, apart from youth recreational sports. Unvaccinated children can attend these places and events as long as they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated adult.
As of Aug. 27, 76.2 per cent of Manitobans aged 12 and up had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while 81.7 per cent had received at least one dose. Everyone who has received two doses by Sept. 6 will be eligible for Manitoba’s next vaccination lottery draw in September, in which seven $100,000 prizes and 10 $25,000 scholarships will be awarded.
“We certainly see now that a fourth wave is inevitable here in Manitoba,” chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Aug. 24. “Our vaccine rate is not rising quickly enough.”
213 new COVID infections were reported for the preceding four-day period Aug. 30, including 34 on Monday, 46 on Sunday, 102 on Saturday and 31 on Friday. Saturday was the second day in less than a week on which more than 100 new cases of COVID were identified in Manitoba. Prior to that, there hadn’t been a day with 100 or more cases since June
Five of the new cases announced Monday were in the north, two of them involving people who aren’t fully vaccinated. 26 new cases of the virus among northern residents were identified Aug. 27.
More than 200 new cases were also announced provincewide for the previous four days on Aug. 26.
There are 50 active cases of COVID-19 in the Island Lake health district, 15 in The Pas/Opaskwayak/Kelsey health district, five in Thompson/Mystery Lake and three in Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb as of Aug. 30
Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate was three per cent on Monday and there were 65 people in hospital due to COVID infections, 18 of them in intensive care. Five of those in hospital are from the northern region, but no northern residents are currently in intensive care.
Manitoba’s government announced last week that provincial employees who work with vulnerable populations, including with children, will be required to show proof of vaccination by Oct. 31 at the latest or submit to COVID-19 testing as often as three times per week.
“We are watching case counts climb in other jurisdictions around us and we are hearing projections that are dire,” said Premier Brian Pallister, who is stepping down as premier on the morning of Sept. 1, at an Aug. 24 news conference. “We’ve seen this pattern before.”
Students in all grades will have to wear masks when classes resume in September, as will teachers, support staff, custodians and bus drivers, who must also be fully vaccinated by Oct. 31, meaning they have to receive their second shot by Oct. 17 at the latest.
Other employees requiring vaccinations will include early childhood educators at licensed facilities, some Manitoba Justice employees, workers at congregate residential settings or group homes, and health care workers including doctors, nurses, other professionals and support staff. Pallister said all government staff who work in the legislature and MLAs will also be subject to the vaccination or testing requirements.
Achieving herd immunity has become less likely due to the more highly transmissible Delta variant, said Roussin, as well as the areas in the province with low vaccine uptake.
He said he hopes that workers will choose to get vaccinated rather than submit to regular testing.
“This is now a pandemic largely of the unvaccinated,” he said. “Very few of our cases are fully vaccinated. Even fewer are in hospital. Almost none are in ICU.”
