Manitoba seeing 'widespread transmission' as 162 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths reported: Dr. Roussin

Manitoba's COVID-19 numbers continue to hover far too high but it's not due to any particular outbreaks that can be targeted, the province's top doctor says.

"We're just seeing widespread transmission, including in many of the regions," Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin told reporters at a Wednesday news conference, as 162 new cases and two deaths from COVID-19 were reported on the provincial data dashboard.

"When you see high levels of community transmission, when you see high levels of transmission anywhere, it's soon going to be everywhere."

Roussin said he isn't ruling out greater restrictions being placed on Manitobans, even though most unvaccinated people are already limited in where they can go. As well, new measures focused on indoor sports involving youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are set to take effect Dec. 6. 

The seven-day average of new daily cases in Manitoba is now 146, up from an average of 92 a month ago.

If case numbers continue to climb and strain the health-care system, "then we always have to consider doing more," Roussin said. "What that's going to look like depends a lot on the specifics."

He added it's hard to predict at this point if any new gathering limits might be implemented during the holiday season.

"What we know is that trajectory is not in the right direction right now."

Roussin said officials "can see that transmission decreasing" if there is buy-in for the current and upcoming rules and following the fundamentals of mask use, hand-washing and physical distancing. He also underscored the need for more vaccination uptake.

As of Monday, 87.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 84.4 per cent had two, the provincial vaccine dashboard says.

Vaccination rates in some Southern Health areas remain low, however. The Stanley health district, which surrounds the cities of Winkler and Morden, still has a vaccination rate of just 26.3 per cent, while Winkler sits at 45.3 per cent. A handful of other Southern Health districts have rates between 54 and 58 per cent.

Current restrictions — including use of vaccination cards — will only be reduced if transmission rates slide, vaccination rates climb and the risk of overwhelming the health-care system eases, Roussin said.

"That's when we can start cautiously rolling back [but] right now … we still have that risk."

Asked what level of vaccination needs to be achieved, Roussin said there is no single uniform figure, but "certainly the higher the better."

Southern, Winnipeg health regions have most cases

The Southern Health and Winnipeg health regions have more than half of the latest cases, with 57 and 46, respectively.

Prairie Mountain Health region is next with 27 while the Interlake-Eastern and Northern health regions each have 16.

The two deaths are from the Southern Health and Prairie Mountain Health regions, bringing Manitoba's total number of deaths linked to COVID-19 to 1,276. That includes 258 linked to more contagious coronavirus strains.

No other information about sex or ages of the people who died is available. The provincial government does not issue news releases on Wednesdays but some data is available on the COVID-19 dashboard.

More details are expected to be released when the province puts out its next COVID-19 news bulletin on Thursday.

There are 152 COVID-19 patients in Manitoba hospitals, down from 157 on Tuesday. Of those, 30 are in intensive care units, which is an increase of one from Tuesday.

People who haven't been fully vaccinated make up most of Manitoba's 1,452 active cases.

Of the 162 new cases announced Wednesday, 94 are unvaccinated (58 per cent) and five are only partly vaccinated (three per cent). The other 63 (39 per cent) are fully vaccinated.

Among people hospitalized with active cases of COVID-19, 50 per cent are unvaccinated and 46 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Of the patients being treated for active COVID-19 in intensive care units, 79 per cent are unvaccinated and 21 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The five-day test positivity rate is 5.7 per cent provincially (down slightly from 5.9 per cent). That rate for Winnipeg hasn't been updated by the province since Monday, when it was 3.1 per cent.

As for the test positivity rate in the south, there have been day-to-day fluctuations but no significant improvements, Roussin said.

The province has also now linked 151 more cases to variants of concern, according to Wednesday's update on its online variant dashboard. Of those, 149 are listed as unspecified variants, which means they have yet to be classified, while two are listed as the B.1.617.2, or delta, variant.

School cases

There have now been 1,149 COVID-19 cases in school-age children and school staff since classes started in September, according to the province's latest online update. Of those, 991 are student cases and 158 are staff.

A total of 284 schools have reported at least one case this school year. A map showing school-associated cases within the last 14 days can be seen here.

At a news conference following Roussin's on Wednesday, provincial officials announced more details about how vaccines will eventually be distributed to five- to 11-year-olds.

Roussin said younger kids are making up a greater proportion of the newest cases than in previous pandemic waves, because they're not yet eligible for a vaccine.

However, the province is not looking at moving students back into remote learning, as was done last year.

"One of the most important priorities we've always talked about [is] the schools being the last to close, the first to open," he said.

"We do see transmission in schools and that's why we see some classes on remote learning, but overall, schools have provided a a safe environment compared to many other settings."