On Thursday, June 10, Premier Brian Pallister held a press conference to lay out a loose framework for reopening Manitoba’s economy and allowing Manitobans to enjoy broader freedoms progressively throughout the summer.
Although the plan is light on specifics, its focus is on providing benchmarks based on rising first- and second-dose vaccination rates by three holiday milestones.
By Canada Day (July 1), the immunization target is that at least 70 percent of all Manitobans 12 and up will have received their first dose of vaccine, and at least 25 percent will have received their second dose.
By the August long weekend (August 2), the target is that at least 75 percent of all Manitobans 12 and up will have received their first dose, and at least 50 percent will have received their second dose.
By Labour Day (September 6), the target is that at least 80 percent of all Manitobans 12 and up will have received their first dose, and at least 75 percent will have received their second dose.
If the Canada Day goal is reached, businesses, services, and facilities will be able to open at 25 percent capacity. If the August long weekend goal is reached, businesses, services, and facilities will be able to open at 50 percent. And if the Labour Day goal is reached, businesses, services, and facility will be able to open with only limited restrictions.
There is a lack of specificity regarding which businesses, services, and facilities are being referred to in this plan. At the press conference, Pallister acknowledged that the plan is more conservative than those released by other provinces, but he insists it’s also more realistic and leaves the necessary room to craft flexible public health orders as the summer progresses.
The stated goal of this reopening strategy, according to Dr. Brent Roussin, is for Manitoba to be post-pandemic—but not necessarily post-COVID—by the fall.
“This reopening path aligns with public health advice on phasing out restrictions as more Manitobans get vaccinated,” says Dr. Roussin. “This path to reopen businesses, services, and facilities and our ability to gather with each other relies on Manitobans getting that second dose while continuing to follow the public health orders, and I encourage everyone to book their first and second doses as soon as possible.”
Although other jurisdictions across Canada have announced reopening plans based largely on first doses, Manitoba’s duel emphasis on the all-important second dose, Dr. Roussin says, is a result of recent data related to the arrival of the delta COVID variant, which originated in India and has since spread widely throughout the world.
The delta variant is significantly more transmissible, and it has demonstrated the ability to evade the immune response in people with only a single dose of vaccine. Studies show that one dose only results in about a 30 percent efficacy, but that the efficacy jumps to about 88 percent after the second dose.
That said, cases of this variant amongst people with a single dose are generally not as severe as cases in the unvaccinated, once again emphasizing the importance of vaccination to Manitoba’s reopening strategy.
“The more of us who get vaccinated, the faster we can regain our freedoms and enjoy what we’ve lost this past year and a half,” says Pallister. “There are two ways to reopen safely—getting vaccinated as soon as you are able and continuing to follow the public health orders.”