Starting today, October 26, the provincial government has extended the current public health orders for an additional three weeks—although there are many reasons to expect that these orders, or similar versions, will remain in place over the winter.

One major change, however, does affect our local area. Last month, due to rising COVID-19 infections in the southern part of the province, the province placed 50 percent capacity restrictions on retail in all regions of Southern Health as a whole.

As those rules first came into effect, Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck called for the province to reconsider their broad regional approach. He called on Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief provincial health officer, to meet with him and discuss the reality that some health districts within Southern Health do, in fact, have vaccination rates at or above the provincial average.

Dyck’s concern was that this rule would force local businesses to take a financial hit unnecessarily. He also cited the rule as being a hardship to the staff who are required to enforce it. In general, he felt that Niverville was being unfairly penalized for being associated with its rural neighbours.

That message did ultimately get through, and starting today the province has agreed to waive the 50 percent capacity rule for several regions within Southern Health with high vaccination rates.

The health district of Niverville-Ritchot (with 83.4 percent vaccine uptake), as well as the municipalities of Tache, Macdonald, Headingley, Cartier, and St. Francois Xavier, will be allowed to return to full retail capacity.

“Treating these municipalities like Winnipeg makes sense, given their stronger vaccination rates as well as their daily commute and close proximity to the city,” says Dr. Roussin. “We need Manitobans across the province to step up and be vaccinated against COVID-19. We continue to monitor several indicators such as vaccination rates, test positivity rate, case counts, and the strain on our health system to determine our next steps and make contingency plans if needed.”

All other public orders remain unchanged.

The orders continue to allow fully vaccinated Manitobans to enjoy as much freedom and as few restrictions as possible, while unvaccinated individuals continue to be restricted in their activities in order to reduce transmission and the most serious outcomes.

As a reminder, the current orders are as follows:

• limiting private indoor gatherings for households to guests from one other household when any unvaccinated person who is eligible to be vaccinated is present on the property (even if the unvaccinated person lives at that location).
• limiting private outdoor gatherings for households to 10 guests when any unvaccinated person who is eligible to be vaccinated is present on the property (even if the unvaccinated person lives at that location).
• reducing indoor public gathering group sizes to 25 people or 25 percent capacity, whichever is lower, for gatherings that include unvaccinated people who are eligible to be vaccinated including weddings and funerals.
• setting indoor group sizes for faith-based gatherings to 25 people or 33 percent capacity, whichever is greater, for gatherings that include unvaccinated people who are eligible to be vaccinated.
• limiting all outdoor public gathering sizes to 50 people.
• retail capacity remains at 50 percent in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region with the exception of capital region communities to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in this region.

The new orders will remain in place until November 16, at which time they will be re-evaluated.
 

“Manitoba must stay vigilant in our fight against COVID-19 and the fourth wave,” says Audrey Gordon, Manitoba’s Minister of Health. “Our case numbers, hospital admissions and ICU numbers continue to fluctuate but we need to remain steadfast in our approach with the current public health orders we have in place. We know that vaccination works. Currently, the vast majority of hospitalizations and ICU admissions are people who are unvaccinated. To fully bring an end to the pandemic, we all need to do our part and get vaccinated.”