40 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba on Wednesday include care home outbreak, daycare

Manitoba announced 40 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and the total number of active cases in the province is 599.

More than three-quarters of the new cases — 31 — are in the Winnipeg health region, provincial officials said in a news release.

New cases were also announced in each of the other four health regions in the province.

There are four in the Southern Health region, two in the Prairie Mountain Health region, two in the Interlake-Eastern health region and one in the Northern Health region.

The province has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at another Winnipeg personal care home. The Calvary Place Personal Care Home on Erin Street is moving to the red, or critical, level on the province's pandemic response system.

The public is also being warned about potential exposure to COVID-19 in multiple locations, including a Winnipeg school, a daycare, gym and a church in an Interlake-area First Nation.

There are possible exposures at Winnipeg's Glenlawn Collegiate on Sept. 25 and at Les enfants précieux child-care centre on Sept. 18. Public health investigations have determined the risk to the public is low and the infections are not believed to have been acquired at the school or child-care centre.

Another possible exposure was at the Pentecostal House of Prayer in Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation, 225 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on Sept. 27 between 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., the government says.

People may have picked up the virus at Winnipeg's La Roca restaurant on Smith Street on Sept. 26, from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.. and the Planet Fitness on Ellice Avenue from Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 between 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.

Test positivity rate at 2 per cent

There are 13 people in hospital with COVID-19, including seven in intensive care, the news release says. The number of deaths related to COVID-19 remains at 20.

A total of 1,955 tests were completed Tuesday, bringing the province's total to 184,491 since early February. The current five-day test positivity rate is two per cent, down from 2.2 per cent on Tuesday.

The Gerdau steel plant in Selkirk confirmed on Wednesday that one of their employees picked up the virus. The company, which reported 400 employees in the city in 2018, has disinfected potential exposure areas and told some employees to self-monitor for symptoms. 

The Rady Jewish Community Centre in Winnipeg also revealed that a member has tested positive for COVID-19. The individual was asymptomatic while at the community centre's fitness facility and passed screening questions, the centre said in a news release online.

"We continue to do our part to mitigate possible transmissions through physical distancing measures as well as our daily and nightly deep cleaning and sanitization procedures," the centre said.

The individual was at the centre on the following dates and times, the centre wrote:

• Sept. 12, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sept. 13, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sept. 16, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sept. 17, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sept. 21, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sept. 22, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The province did not list the exposure at the fitness facility among its potential exposures on Wednesday. Provincial officials have said only exposures that may pose some risk to the public will be posted.

Since the start of the pandemic, Manitoba has identified 1,993 cases of COVID-19. A total of 1,374 people have recovered.