Manitoba sets 4th-wave record with 193 new COVID-19 cases Friday
Modelling shows province on track to reach mid-range case counts of 200 per day by December
Manitoba's daily COVID-19 case count hit its highest point of the fourth wave Friday, with 193 cases — the largest daily case count since mid-June.
That record-setting day, coming just three days after the previous peak of the fourth wave, coincided with the Manitoba government announcing new vaccination requirements for indoor youth sports across the province, and limits on religious services in the Southern Health region.
Before announcing the new restrictions, Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin presented updated pandemic modelling, showing a steady increase in daily case counts and hospital admissions if the province took no action to curb the spread.
"Without any further restrictions … this model, at about the 50 per cent range, would give us about 200 cases a day at the beginning of December and climbing thereafter to mid-December," he said.
Manitoba has identified 359 new COVID-19 cases and one more death from the illness in the past two days, with 166 of those discovered on Thursday, provincial officials said Friday.
There were no updates Thursday due to Remembrance Day.
Nearly half of Friday's new cases are in the Southern Health region, with 94. The Winnipeg health region has the next highest number with 48, followed by the Prairie Mountain Health region with 25, the Northern Health Region with 15 and Interlake-Eastern health region with 11.
In the province's pandemic modelling, the increase in cases was sharpest in the Southern Health region.
"We see that that climb is significantly steeper than the province overall, which we saw earlier on is driving a lot of our numbers," Roussin said, adding that case numbers are rising in all health regions.
The model also showed a steady increase in hospital admissions. Without further restrictions, the mid-range prediction shows intensive care units in the province getting three admissions per day.
"And what we've seen in previous waves, that's not a sustainable number," Roussin said.
The latest death is a man in his 80s from the Prairie Mountain region, the province said in a Friday news release. That brings the number of people who have died from the illness in the province since the start of the pandemic to 1,269.
The current five-day test positivity rate for Manitoba is 6.1 per cent, a slight dip from 6.2 reported on Wednesday.
There are currently 145 people in hospital due to COVID-19, up two from Wednesday. That includes 30 in intensive care units, also up by two.
The province has also now linked 206 more COVID-19 cases to coronavirus variants of concern.
There are 198 cases now linked to an unspecified variant and eight that have been classified as the B.1.617.2, or delta, variant, according to an update on the province's online variant dashboard.
As of Friday, 87 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 84.2 per cent have two, the provincial vaccine dashboard says.
Anyone born on or before Dec. 31, 2009, is eligible for first and second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The province has also recently expanded eligibility for third doses to everyone 18 and up.
School cases
The total number of COVID-19 cases involving school-age children or staff at schools since classes started on Sept. 7 is now 997, Friday's update on the province's website says.
Of those, 859 are student cases and 138 are staff. There have been 263 schools that have reported at least one case.
Within the last 14-day period — the period in which cases are considered active — there have been 356 cases. There were 309 student cases and 47 staff cases during the Oct. 27 to Nov. 9 period, with 132 schools reporting at least one case.
No schools are in remote learning at this time.
A map showing school-associated cases within the last 14 days can be seen here.
Outbreaks at care home, 6 schools
The province also said in its Friday news release that outbreaks have been declared in the rehab unit at the Portage District General Hospital in Portage la Prairie and at Russell Personal Care Home.
Outbreaks have been declared at six schools:
- Riverheights School in Brandon (kindergarten cohort).
- Lacerte School in Winnipeg (kindergarten class).
- Westdale School in Winnipeg (Grade 6).
- Ralph Maybank School in Winnipeg (grades 2/3 and 3/4 classes).
- Edmund Partridge School in Winnipeg (Grade 6 class).
- South Pointe School in Winnipeg (Grade 2 class).
Those classes have been moved to remote learning, and the schools have moved to the orange, or restricted, level of the province's pandemic response system.
Earlier outbreaks at École Régionale Notre-Dame (Grade 11/12 class) in Notre-Dame-des-Lourdes and at Springs Christian Academy (Youville Campus) in Winnipeg have been declared over, the province said.
WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | Nov. 12, 2021:
Corrections
- An earlier version of this story said the province had reported 193 new cases in its first update since Wednesday. In fact, there were 193 cases reported Friday and 166 on Thursday, for a total of 359 since Wednesday.Nov 12, 2021 2:52 PM CT
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