Manitoba health officials say nine more Manitobans with COVID-19 have died, and 241 new infections have been identified Monday.
The numbers come as the province’s chief public health officer says the first Manitobans to be vaccinated are expected to get their shots Wednesday morning.
Manitoba announced last week about 900 health-care workers in critical, acute and long-term care units will be first to receive the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
“We know many Manitobans want to be immunized and our plan is to have that available to any Manitobans, but right now we’re going to have limited supply and we need to make choices on how to best approach this,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, adding its important Manitobans stay vigilant against the virus.
“We know that it’s the time of year for office parties and gathering within families, obviously this year is different.
“We’re going to celebrate differently this year, but we’re planning on having vaccines administered this week, and so it won’t immediately change the way we need to adhere to the public health guidelines, but we do have that hope.”
Manitoba has now recorded 499 COVID-19-related deaths and 21,264 cases of the virus since March.
The latest deaths include:
- a man in his 40s, and a woman in her 50s, both from the Winnipeg Health region;
- a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Park Manor Personal Care Home;
- a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg;
- a man in his 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at the Fred Douglas Lodge;
- a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region;
- two women in their 90s from the Winnipeg health region, both linked to the outbreak at the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg;
- a woman in her 90s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud region, linked to the outbreak at the Rest Haven Nursing Home.
The latest cases identified Monday include 158 cases in the Winnipeg Health region, 38 cases in the Southern Health region, 12 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 23 cases in the Northern Health region, and 10 cases in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
Over the weekend the province began scheduling vaccinations for health-care workers, as 633 new cases and another 25 deaths were reported.
Older workers in direct contact with patients as well as those in the clinics will be at the front of the line and bookings will be accepted in the order received, the province has said.
By Sunday, the province reported its booking service had received more than 100,000 phone calls since opening Saturday.
Roussin said Monday two-thirds of the vaccination spots have been taken and said the province is on track to have all 900 appointments booked by the end of day.
Roussin apologized to health-care workers who ended up stuck on hold or couldn’t get through to book an appointment over the weekend.
He said the province’s phone system faced challenges screening out callers not eligible for the first rounds of vaccine, after the phone number was accidentally made public.
“There were hundreds of thousands of calls made in a relatively short period of time,” he said.
“Unfortunately there were many people who were not honest with the initial screening approach, so many of the call centre attendants were dealing with screening out people who were trying to screen in.”
Only health-care workers whose work involves direct contact with patients are eligible for the first shots, and they must work in either critical, acute or long-term care settings.
There’s also age requirements: candidates must be 50 or older by Dec. 31 if you work in critical care, or 60 or older if you work in either acute care or long-term care.
People who will be working in the COVID-19 immunization clinics are also eligible.
Roussin said Monday more vaccine is expected to arrive in Manitoba as early as next week, and the province has said additional dates will be added to immunize the priority group as soon as possible, based on the next deliveries of vaccine.
Manitoba’s daily number of new cases has been trending downward in recent weeks after the provincial government imposed tight restrictions on public gatherings and business openings.
The percentage of people testing positive has remained high at more than 13 per cent, however, and Manitoba’s chief nursing officer, Lanette Siragusa said the province’s health-care system continues to struggle under the weight of COVID-19 cases.
She said intensive care units in Winnipeg are running at 154 per cent their normal capacity, with 47 COVID-19 patients currently in need critical care beds, including 34 who are in need of ventilators.
As of Monday, Siragusa said there are 386 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Manitoba, although the province said hospitalization numbers, including ICU data, wasn’t available from the Prairie Mountain Health region Monday due to a technical issue.
Siragusa also said there are currently 16 COVID-19 outbreaks at 10 different hospitals across the province and 49 Manitoba personal care homes also have declared outbreaks.
“It’s a complex virus (in terms of) the impact on people. They require a lot of work and a long length of stay,” said Siragusa.
“It is absolutely taxing on the health-care system and our staff.”
Numbers from the province show 2,133 tests for COVID-19 were done Sunday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February to 390,503.
Meanwhile a new walk-in testing centre opened at the Garrick Centre at 330 Garry St. in Winnipeg Monday. The new site will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 13.6 per cent provincially and 13 per cent in Winnipeg, according to the province.
The data shows there are 5,791 active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba.
–With files from 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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