One person didn’t tell health-care staff that they were the close contact of someone who was positive.
Another went to a funeral, then went to a personal care home and started an outbreak.
A third knew they had the virus, but had a party anyway.
It’s cases like these that are driving Manitoba’s coronavirus numbers, and it’s entirely preventable, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said Monday.
“Those dumb things, they’re endangering all of us,” said Pallister, noting the vast majority of Manitobans are making sacrifices and doing the right thing, while a few are being careless.
“This is maddening, to put it mildly … They’re endangering other people’s lives while they’re being thoughtless.”
Manitoba’s numbers as of Monday include 4,349 cases and 55 deaths, with 80 people in hospital, 15 of those in ICU.
Pallister said it doesn’t matter how much testing and enforcement is done if “Manitobans don’t get with the program.
“Grow up, and stop going out there and giving people COVID.”
Manitoba’s chief provincial health officer, Brent Roussin. was visibly frustrated Monday as he spoke about cases that could have been easily prevented.
“We’ve had people attend medical procedures without disclosing that they’ve been in contact with a close case,” said Roussin.
“This has left dozens of health-care providers off work needing to self-isolate. We have an entire surgical team at home for two weeks because of this nondisclosure.
“We’ve had an individual attend work for an entire week while symptomatic before being tested. We’ve had individuals who had had symptoms for a week, got tested, but did not self-isolate. They went to a large social gathering. They had a gathering at their own house.
“We’ve had a specific example is an individual who left to work because they were ill, but then went shopping and exposed many people at many different events.”
Roussin told people to decrease their number of contacts.
“If public health contacted you, would you be able to tell them who all your contacts were in the last week or even over the weekend?
“If that would be difficult for you, it probably means you’ve had way too many contacts.”
Seven Oaks School Division sent out a letter to parents at Maples Collegiate on Monday, warning them of a possible exposure after administrators discovered a student positive with COVID-19 went to a weekend party.
“What kids do on the weekend when they’re out of school can also put them and other students at risk,” said superintendent Brian O’Leary.
“Students holding large parties, going to parties is a problem and potentially a significant risk for high school students.”
Teachers at the school spoke to their classrooms about the consequences, said O’Leary.
“I think we’re at a point in Winnipeg where we need to be really clear with people as to what to do.”
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