Today, Manitoba Public Health officials advised of 38 new COVID-19 cases, 12 of which were identified as coming from the Southern Health region. More specifically, cases in Niverville/Ritchot now sit at 25, with the most recent cases being linked to known clusters.
One new case announced today is in a personal care home in Steinbach, Besthesda Place. Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, said this can be classified an “outbreak.”
Roussin added that the Winnipeg and Prairie Mountain health regions are the only areas of the province currently seeing community spread, with cases that cannot be traced back to known clusters.
Niverville/Ritchot Cluster
The Niverville/Ritchot area is a notable concern for the province, given the high number of cases found in a comparatively small population. Given the province’s approach to minimize identification of positive cases, Roussin said very little on these local cases except to account for them.
“We’re not seeing community-based transmission in there,” said Roussin, refusing to divulge whether the cases are from a Hutterite colony in the area. “I don’t know if I have the details on what exactly was the start of it, but it’s not widespread. It’s not community-based transmission. It is a localized cluster.”
Rapid Response Plan
The development of a response plan for areas experiencing high levels of COVID-19 was announced by the province last month, on July 13, but the province has yet to unveil it, despite rising numbers that have pushed the province’s case load above its previous spring high.
Roussin had previously said the province was moving toward a “rapid response system” which would outline the actions the province would take if a certain level of cases were to be reached. The plan would provide specific indicators for the province to watch out for, as well as targeted restrictions based on the level of risk to public health to smaller areas of province experiencing high numbers of cases.
Roussin said the rapid response system is still in development and is to be released this week.
“We don’t have any immediate plans for any of these rapid responses [in Niverville/Ritchot],” he said. “Certainly our approach to that we’re going to be discussing later on this week, for a province-wide approach.”
The rapid response strategy will not include a specified number of cases at which point the province would put more restrictions in place. The plan’s indicators may include the ones the province is already reporting on, such as test positivity rate, cases that can’t be linked to known clusters, and healthcare system capacity.
What the government is trying to avoid is going back and forth with public health recommendations and, even more so, mandated restrictions as were in place in the spring.
“When we look at businesses or any aspect of the economy that can’t rely on the ability to be open, that every time we see a cluster of cases, we’re going to shut things down again, is going to be unworkable,” said Roussin. “What we want is Manitobans to make informed choices, to be able to use the information we provide them, to act accordingly in these times. If necessary, we do have the ability to impose further public health restrictions, but we’ve learned so much about this virus. We’ve lived with this virus now for many months, and I think we should be able to deal with this virus without widespread restrictions.”
In the meantime, there is no formal recommendation for a community experiencing high levels of cases to revert back to previous restrictions or smaller gathering sizes.
Back to Basics
Instead Roussin recommends Niverville/Ritchot residents go back to basics.
“We are seeing case numbers that we haven’t seen since the beginning of the pandemic… and with that brings anxiety to Manitobans,” said Roussin. “But to alleviate some of that is that we all know what we can do. We can all make changes today. If we hadn’t been focusing on those fundamentals until now, we can certainly start today.”
In addition to encouraging hand-washing hygiene and social distancing, Roussin drew attention to the importance of staying home when you’re sick—even mildly sick.
In fact, staying home while mildly ill is especially important.
“This is paramount and this is a huge change,” said Roussin. “Especially as we move into respiratory virus season.”
He also acknowledged that the increase in cases comes after Manitoba has been reopening the economy. He admitted some surprise at the current jump in cases, saying public health officials were expecting an increase in the fall coinciding with the regular flu season.
“But that’s what this virus is like,” he said. “If you get a couple of clusters, it can spread quickly.”
Today’s daily press conference was also used as an opportunity to strengthen the province’s messaging on mask use.
“We’re increasing our messaging on mask use,” Roussin added. “We’ve said as of late that wearing a mask in circumstances where you can’t physically distance, what that really means now is when you’re not absolutely sure you can physically distance. So in indoor public places where you’re not certain you can physically distance, we’re recommending you wear a mask… It’s an additional measure we can all take to limit the transmission of this virus.”
Amid concerns of school reopening in a few weeks and the increased push for the province to mandate masks, Roussin confirmed that mask-wearing still is not making mandatory at this time. Instead he said that the high public voluntary compliance will ensure Manitoba’s ability to continue to be a COVID-19 success story.
If people don’t comply as needed, Roussin said that a mask mandate could come later.
Bethesda Place Infection
Still under investigation is how the one resident at Bethesda Place in Steinbach came to be infected with COVID-19. Because the case is classified as having no know origin, Roussin has described it as an outbreak. He also reported that the staff acted promptly by implementing immediate isolation of the patient along with isolation of the wing where the infection was detected.
