Latest changes to Manitoba COVID-19 restrictions met by both relief and disappointment
Funeral homes, concert halls, movie theatres feel restrictions could have been loosened further
Winnipeg funeral director Kevin Sweryd says he was relieved this week to hear that capacity for funerals in Manitoba can increase — but he was also somewhat disappointed.
Among other changes to pandemic restrictions announced by the Manitoba government Tuesday, the maximum capacity for funerals, weddings and public outdoor gatherings will increase from 10 people to 25, when new public health orders come into effect as of 12:01 a.m. CT Friday.
But Sweryd believes the funeral industry has the capability to safely expand capacity further — especially when places of worship are allowed up to 100 people or 25 per cent capacity, assuming other public health measures are followed.
Retail stores will be allowed to welcome up to 500 people or 50 per cent of maximum capacity, whichever is lower, as of Friday.
"Funeral service [businesses] are still being held to a very different standard than other businesses that are being allowed to operate with much greater capacity limits and much higher numbers than we are," said Sweryd, who is also president of the Manitoba Funeral Service Association.
WATCH | Relief and disappointment as COVID-19 restrictions change:
"You can go to a church service … this coming Sunday at 10 a.m. and you can sit in the sanctuary and worship with 100 people socially distanced with all the right protocols in place. But if you want to go to that same church in the same sanctuary on Monday morning at 10 a.m. then it is only safe to have 10 people in the same building."
The industry has faced concerns about funeral services potentially becoming superspreader events throughout the pandemic.
There is precedent in Canada: most of the confirmed COVID-19 cases reported during Newfoundland and Labrador's first wave were linked to a funeral held in St. John's in March 2020. The "Caul's cluster" became one of the country's first COVID-19 outbreaks.
But Sweryd's association challenged Manitoba's government to show the transmission stemming from funerals here.
"We understand that they may have concerns that people would be in closer contact at funerals, wanting to hug and shake hands. But we believe that we wrote protocols that allow for people to gather without having that happen," he said.
Funeral directors in Manitoba have instituted measures such as having ushers to remind people about physical distancing, implementing staggered entry times and noting contact information in case contact tracing is needed, he said.
He said he doesn't see such initiatives when he's out grocery shopping.
'Public health has prevailed': Lamont
An online survey launched last week asked Manitobans to weigh in on what restrictions should change and when. Provincial officials debated shifting to the orange, or restricted, level of the province's pandemic response system.
The province announced Tuesday, though, that Manitoba will remain at the red, or critical level — the system's highest. The entire province has been at that level since last November.
"I'm quite relieved that public health has prevailed," Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said during a scrum Tuesday, citing rising COVID-19 cases and confirmed cases of coronavirus variants in Manitoba.
"I'm glad we've erred on the side of caution."
While outdoor public gatherings will also see maximum capacity increase from 10 to 25 people starting Friday, private outdoor gatherings — in someone's backyard, for example — are still limited to 10 people.
The current rules for designated visitors inside a private residence still apply. Manitoba households can designate two people as visitors, or enter a bubble with one other household that is allowed to visit.
And though capacity will increase for retailers, Lamont said more business supports are needed help industries that won't benefit from looser restrictions later this week.
He said he has also approached Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin, the premier and the ministers for health and mental health about expanding capacity restrictions for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
"During the pandemic, mental health has gotten worse and problem drug and alcohol consumption has gotten worse," said Lamont. "It needs to stay safe … but right now it's a real problem."
The new public health order will expire Thursday, April 15.
Theatres, concert halls still closed
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced movie theatres and concert halls in Manitoba to remain closed for most of the past year. They were able to reopen briefly after the initial lockdown, but have been closed since November.
Officials said last week they were considering allowing indoor theatres and concert halls to reopen with limited capacity, but with Tuesday's announcement, there is still no reopening in sight for those venues.
"It's understandable and it's unfortunate that we won't get that opportunity to expand just yet," said Robert Olson, CEO of the Manitoba Centennial Centre Corporation, which manages venues such as the Centennial Concert Hall and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's two stages.
Manitoba had considered opening theatres to audiences of up to 250 people, which would have been enough to open the concert hall, said Olson.
There wouldn't have been any profit, but that could have allowed the organization to start building public trust in attending those sorts of venues, he said.
"The province was making a safe bet to open these types of venues at these capacity levels," he said, adding live events need time to book performers. "It wasn't like you could say, 'We'll be open next week,' and then — boom — on Monday we'd have shows inside the concert hall."
Meanwhile, Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob is "frustrated and disappointed" by Tuesday's announcement.
"Despite clear results showing that cinemas are demonstrably safer than other indoor venues, the provincial government continues to shutter movie theatres for reasons they won't share with Manitobans," Jacob said in a news release.
"Cineplex has a proven track record of operating our theatres safely and we, like all Canadians, just want to get back to that."
Jacob says there is no evidence of COVID-19 cases linked to movie theatres anywhere.
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With files from Stephanie Cram