Manitoba reports 2 more COVID-19 deaths as hospitalizations continue to drop

Two more people have died after contracting COVID-19 in Manitoba, while the number of people hospitalized with the illness has dropped by 24 since Thursday, the province says on its online coronavirus dashboard.

There are now 583 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 33 in intensive care — down by five.

Manitoba's hospitalization number has dropped steadily since Feb. 2, when a record 744 people were in hospital with COVID-19.

The total number of people in Manitoba's ICUs — with COVID-19 or there for another reason — rose by three to 96 on Friday.

Before the pandemic, the critical care program's baseline capacity was 72, said an email from a spokesperson for Shared Health, which oversees health-care delivery in Manitoba.

The latest deaths linked to the illness were a man in his 50s from the Winnipeg health region and a woman in her 60s from the Southern Health region, the province says in a news release.

They bring the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the province to 1,649, the dashboard says.

The province also provided more details about five other deaths initially reported on its coronavirus dashboard on Thursday.

Those deaths included two in the Winnipeg health region: a woman in her 70s linked to an outbreak at Kildonan Personal Care Centre and a man in his 90s, the release says.

Three people in the Prairie Mountain Health region were also among the deaths reported Thursday: a woman in her 70s, a man in his 80s linked to an outbreak at Crocus Court Personal Care Home and a man in his 90s linked to an outbreak at the Sherwood Personal Care Home.

Manitoba also reported 343 new known cases of COVID-19, the dashboard says. But officials say it's important to note that data is limited because it only includes cases confirmed by PCR tests — which many people aren't eligible for — and rapid tests given by health-care professionals.

Positive results from rapid antigen tests people do at home are not collected or included in that total. Earlier this week, the province announced that all Manitobans will now be able to get those tests at any of its testing sites, whether they have symptoms or not.

Most of the new known cases are in either the Winnipeg health region, which has 133, or the Northern Health Region, which has 106.

The rest are split between the Prairie Mountain Health region with 57, the Interlake-Eastern health region with 26 and the Southern Health region with 21, the dashboard says.

The province's five-day test positivity rate also dropped slightly on Friday, down to 18.5 per cent from 19.1 on Thursday, the dashboard says.

Because of the Louis Riel Day holiday on Monday, the province said it won't put out its usual COVID-19 news release that day, though its regular weekday online data schedule will otherwise continue. The government's next coronavirus bulletin will come on Wednesday.

Novavax doses expected in March

The province also provided an update of its own on Novavax, a COVID-19 vaccine that was approved by Health Canada this week.

Manitoba expects to get its first shipments of that vaccine in mid-March, Friday's news release said. Details about how much the province will get and where people will be able to get it will be provided as soon as possible, it said. 

Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead of Manitoba's vaccine implementation task force, said earlier this month she hoped the arrival of the Novavax shot could lead to more people getting their first doses.

That's because it's a protein subunit vaccine that contains a small amount of the virus to trigger an immune response — a technology that's been around for awhile when it comes to immunizations.

Some people hesitant to get the previously available COVID-19 vaccines have expressed concerns about the safety of mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, because of the comparatively new messenger RNA technology they use.

"We're not saying that … [Novavax is] better or worse than the messenger RNA technology," Reimer said at a news conference on Feb. 9.

But for people who "continue to feel concerned about the new technology … this might be more comfortable for them, because it's more similar to vaccines they may have received in the past," she said.

"Any time that someone feels that this is the best next step for them, we're really excited to welcome them to get that first dose."

Outbreaks

New COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre GH4 unit and several care homes in the province:

• Deer Lodge Centre's Lodge 2 East in Winnipeg.
• Cedarwood Supportive Housing in Steinbach.
• Northern Spirit Manor in Thompson.
• Flin Flon Personal Care Home.
• Swan River Valley Personal Care Home.

Outbreaks that were previously declared at these other hospitals and care homes are now over:

• Actionmarguerite St. James in Winnipeg.
• Kildonan Personal Care Home in Winnipeg.
• Victoria General Hospital's 4 North Unit in Winnipeg.
• Deer Lodge Centre's Lodge 5 West and Tower 7 in Winnipeg.
• Seven Oaks General Hospital's 3U1-3 and 3U4-7 units in Winnipeg.
• Oakview Place Personal Care Home in Winnipeg.
• Holy Family Home in Winnipeg.
• Middlechurch Home in Winnipeg.
• Milner Ridge Correctional Centre in Beausejour.
• Fisher Branch Personal Care Home.
• Souris Health Centre.