Changes are coming to Manitoba’s public health orders on Saturday, August 7. Citing steadily rising vaccination rates and continued declines in new COVID-19 cases, Premier Brian Pallister and Dr. Brent Roussin announced at a press conference on August 3 that the province will eliminate many restrictions.
These will be the least restrictive public health orders since before the second wave of the pandemic last fall. Only the highest risk transmission environments will be subject to continued health measures.
Notably, Manitoba has not yet reached the third vaccination milestone it set out in late June, which would require two things: for 80 percent of Manitobans 12 and over to have received their first dose, and for 75 percent of Manitoba 12 and over to have received their second dose. So far, only the first requirement has been achieved.
Starting on Saturday, most capacity restrictions will be dropped and the indoor mask mandate will be a thing of the past—although indoor mask usage will remain a strong recommendation for some time to come.
The new orders drop all restrictions in the following sectors:
• indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences.
• gyms and fitness centres.
• libraries.
• personal services such as hair and nail salons.
• day camps.
• retail businesses, markets, garden centres, and malls.
Limited restrictions will continue to be in effect for the following sectors:
• expanded capacity limits will remain in place for weddings, funerals, and other public gatherings both indoors and outdoors, including larger capacity limits for worship and cultural events.
• restaurants and bars will no longer need to restrict the size or space between tables and dining will not be restricted to households or vaccinated individuals; however, patrons will still be expected to avoid congregating or socializing between tables.
• museums, galleries, and movie theatres will remain limited to 50 percent capacity but will no longer be restricted to vaccinated individuals.
• casinos and bingo halls, professional sporting events, horse and auto racing, and concert halls will continue to be limited to vaccinated individuals; however, all these facilities may now open to 100 percent capacity.
• indoor and outdoor sports and recreation will fully reopen with limits only on spectator capacity.
• overnight camps will be permitted with limits on camper cohorts.
• workplaces must continue to report cases to government for follow-up and public health-confirmed transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace may result in workplaces being ordered to close for a minimum of 10 days.
• remote working will no longer be required or recommended by public health and workplaces will be encouraged to transition from COVID-19 safety plans to a general communicable disease prevention plan that focuses on basic risk-reduction principles to reduce the risk of workplace transmission of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
Central to these orders is the principle that gradually public health orders in Manitoba will be replaced with public health guidance.
As such, in light of the continued thread of variants—particular the delta variant, which has been shown to be up to four times more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19—the following public health guidance is being put in place:
• wearing masks in indoor public spaces for everyone who is not fully immunized including children under 12.
• maintaining physical distancing of two metres (six feet) in indoor settings.
“Unless you are fully immunized, you are still at risk for more severe effects of COVID-19, such as requiring hospital care or even death,” says Dr. Roussin. “We are slowly but surely approaching a post-pandemic Manitoba, but this does not mean COVID-19 will disappear. We need to remain cautious and vigilant in our efforts to stop the spread of this virus.”
These new public health orders and guidance will remain in place until at least Tuesday, September 7, at which time they will be revised based on new information.