New COVID-19 statistics show Manitobans should remain vigilant about the virus.
The province’s latest ranking on the hazard index — which combines current infections, hospital strain and mortality — is at a seven, while Canada as a whole is sitting at a six.
Those numbers are from COVID-19 Resources Canada, a database that collects information about the virus and the health-care responses from across the country.
Winnipeg epidemiologist Cynthia Carr says the numbers may have gone down since school returned, but Manitobans aren’t out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID-19.
“We just had Thanksgiving weekend, so lots of people travelling, getting together,” Carr told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
“We’ll have to look at the impact of that, (as well as) moving into the next holiday season where people tend to get together.”
Based on the database’s statistics, roughly one in 20 Manitobans currently has COVID-19, and the province’s hazard ranking has been at a similar level as other western provinces like Alberta and B.C. for some time.
Carr said in Manitoba, we may be “victims of our own success” when it comes to a slower uptake on the most recent vaccine.
Around 20,000 shots had been handed out in the province by the end of September — a smaller number than some of the daily totals we saw during last year’s initial vaccine rollout.
“Part of it, of course, is just fatigue and (being) tired of it and not wanting to think about it,” Carr said.
“The other thing is when people start to think, ‘We’re in the clear, we’re safe, it doesn’t seem as out of control’… that’s sort of a catch-22 — you need to be vaccinated to continue the success.”