Manitoba health officials say 10 more Manitobans have died from COVID-19 and 392 new cases have been identified.
The latest cases reported Monday bring the province’s total number of cases reported since March to 11,339. The province’s death toll rises to 172.
At a press conference Monday Manitoba’s chief public health officer said some people are still not getting the message about the need to stay home and slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Stay home. We need to stay home, socialize only with members of our household, only go out for essential purposes,” Dr. Brent Roussin said.
“We saw examples of that not occurring on the weekend, we saw examples of stores open as thought there was no COVID.”
Roussin said some stores are exceeding the 25 per cent capacity limit, parking lots are full and one COVID-19 case over the weekend had 85 contacts.
It’s been two weeks since Manitoba forced bars and restaurants in the greater Winnipeg region to close.
That was followed last Thursday with a similar order for the rest of the province, which also required many non-essential stores to close as well.
Roussin warned hospitals are running at near-capacity, even as the province opens up new intensive care beds.
“Don’t look for reasons to go out. Look for reasons to stay home,” he said.
Deaths at PCHS, health facilities
All but one of the latest deaths are linked to ongoing outbreaks at personal care homes and health facilities across the province.
The latest victims include:
- A man in his 80s and two women, one in her 80s and another in her 90s, connected to the ongoing outbreak at Maples Personal Care Home in Winnipeg;
- A man in his 90s connected to an outbreak at Bethesda Place in Steinbach;
- A man in his 90s linked to an outbreak at Victoria Hospital in Winnipeg;
- A man in his 80s linked to a cluster of cases at the Seine River Retirement Home;
- A man in his 70s from the Winnipeg Health region;
- A man in his 80s connected to an outbreak at Carman Memorial Hospital;
- A man in his 90s connected to an outbreak at the Brooklyn Terrace condominium complex in Steinbach;
- A man in his 70s linked to an outbreak at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach.
Manitoba reported 731 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and Sunday as well as 25 additional deaths, 18 of which were also linked with the outbreak at Maples.
As of Monday 234 people were in hospital with 42 people in intensive care and the province’s five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 13 per cent. In Winnipeg, where 255 new cases were reported Monday, the five-day test positivity rate is 12.8 per cent.
Manitoba’s chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said provincial efforts to expand ICU capacity continued over the weekend with six new beds added, but the system remains close to capacity.
Siragusa said of the 99 critical beds now available, 90 were full as of early Monday morning. Siragusa said there are currently 83 patients requiring ventilators in Manitoba, and just under half of those — 37 — are COVID-19 patients.
And as health officials race to find enough staff to care for the rising number of people in hospital, Siragusa said 22 health-care workers tested positive for COVID-19 over the last week, including 21 from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
Monday’s new cases were reported throughout the province, with 21 coming from the Interlake-Eastern Health region, 25 identified from the Northern Health region, 19 coming from the Prairie Mountain Health region, and 72 reported in the Southern Health region.
There are now 7,011 known active cases of COVID-19 and 4,156 individuals have recovered, according to provincial data.
The list of outbreaks at personal care homes also grew Monday.
Health officials say outbreaks have now been declared St. Paul’s Residence personal care home in The Pas and at Oakview Place personal care home in Winnipeg. The sites have been moved to red, or critical (red) on the province’s pandemic response system.
On Monday the province announced it will be holding a live COVID-19 press conference every day of the week Monday to Friday.
Health officials had previously been doing the media briefings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
–With files from Elisha Dacey and The Canadian Press
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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