11 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Manitoba as outbreaks at personal care homes grow

As outbreaks grow in personal care homes and health centres in Manitoba, provincial health officials reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

There are eight new cases in the Winnipeg health region, two in the Southern Health region and one in the Interlake-Eastern health region, Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said.

This is the first time in more than a month that there are no new cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region. The last time that happened was Aug. 4, according to provincial data.

“We’re certainly seeing the trend in the right direction with case numbers in Prairie Mountain Health, and so we’ll be watching that closely. We’re just sort of at the the tail end of the first incubation period after we went to restricted orange,” Roussin said.

“We’ll continue to watch those numbers closely and and adjust the pandemic response system as as indicated.”

Tuesday’s new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba are spread out across four of the province’s health districts. (Jacques Marcoux/CBC)

There are 393 active cases and 940 individuals have recovered from COVID-19.

The current five-day test positivity rate is 1.3 per cent.

Personal care home outbreaks

Although there’s some good news in the Prairie Mountain Health region, outbreaks at personal care homes and health-care centres in Manitoba continue to grow, Roussin said.

In the last few weeks, outbreaks have been declared at:

Bethesda Place personal care home in Steinbach.
Rideau Park Personal Care Home in Brandon.
Hillcrest Place personal care home in Brandon.
Fairview Personal Care Home in Brandon.
Fred Douglas Lodge personal care home in Winnipeg.
Beacon Hill Lodge personal care home in Winnipeg.
Concordia Place personal care home in Winnipeg.

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The outbreak at Beacon Hill Lodge in Winnipeg has grown from one staff member with COVID-19 to two.

At Hillcrest Place, the outbreak has also grown to four cases — two health-care workers and two residents — as of Tuesday.

Fairview currently has three workers who are sick, up from two on Thursday.

Two workers at Rideau Park tested positive, up from one the week before.

There are more active cases of COVID-19 in the Prairie Mountain Health region than any other. (Jacques Marcoux/CBC)

Part of the Brandon Regional Health Centre’s Assiniboine Centre also declared an outbreak last week. The second floor of that building, which houses a rehabilitation unit, had two health-care workers and five patients who tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday, but that grew to three health-care workers and seven patients, Roussin said on Tuesday.

The numbers of cases at Bethesda Place, Concordia Place and Fred Douglas Lodge are all unchanged. No new cases have been found at the assisted living facility adjacent to Donwood Manor personal care home, where outbreak protocols where brought in on Sunday.

More health-care workers sick

Provincial data indicates more health-care workers are sick.

A new report on the week of Aug. 23 to 29 says eight more health-care workers tested positive for COVID-19, two nurses and six people who fall under the combined category, meaning the job isn’t revealed because it may identify the individual.

Five of the workers got the virus from a close contact, while with the other three are of unknown transmission.

“It’s concerning,” Roussin said. “It reinforces the need to ensure we’re screening daily for symptoms and that PPE, where appropriate, is always used.”

He also confirmed that seven of the province’s 16 fatalities are linked to outbreaks at health-care facilities after he was pressed on an epidemiology report made public by the province last week.

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Travel-acquired COVID-19 cases in Manitoba are trending downward, while those linked to close contacts and those still under investigation are up slightly. (Jacques Marcoux/CBC)

Four people died after they became exposed to the virus at Bethesda personal care home in Steinbach last month. Roussin also said Tuesday that two people died after an outbreak was declared at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre in April.

One person died after an outbreak was declared at Poseidon Care Centre in April.

Public health officials will begin sharing more detailed geographical information about where COVID-19 cases are located in Winnipeg, Health Minister Cameron Friesen announced at the news conference.

The city will be broken down into 12 districts and that information will be available by the end of the week, Friesen said.

Last week, Manitoba led the country in active cases per 100,000 people. (Jacques Marcoux/CBC)

Last week, travel restrictions were put in place to limit the number of people travelling north, but Roussin announced Tuesday the Manitoba Junior Hockey League is exempt.

The league has one team, the OCN Blizzard, which is located north of the 53rd parallel.

“We want to ensure we’re protecting the remote, isolated communities from from the virus, but we’ve allowed for a number of exemptions for all sorts of activities, and this is yet another one that we felt had a lot of benefit to it and lower risk,” Roussin said.

There were 132,498 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases in Canada on Tuesday. Provinces and territories listed 116,698 of those as recovered or resolved.

WATCH Public health officials announce new COVID-19 cases, more detailed reporting in Winnipeg

Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Tuesday, September 8, 2020. 37:39