Manitobans seek clear direction from provincial officials as concerns related to COVID-19 rise
Province has said it is looking to increase testing capacity
David Lesey was set to host a Christmas Day celebration with members of his family only to begin isolating himself a few days before the holiday.
He is among countless Manitobans who were unable to celebrate Christmas or ring in the new year due to isolation requirements, or chose not to gather with friends and family due to non-COVID-19 health concerns.
Frustration with how the provincial government has dealt with lengthy waits at COVID-19 testing sites, delays in receiving those results and a lack of supports for immunosuppressed individuals is mounting.
Lesey locked himself up in his home starting Dec. 21 after developing symptoms — a dry cough, runny nose, sore throat — consistent with COVID-19.
Two days later, the 60-year-old, who is double vaccinated, went to Winnipeg's Nairn Avenue testing site. He waited five hours, but once he was finally permitted to enter the testing area, Lesey appreciated watching the meticulous cleaning process that ensued.
"It's pretty detailed in how they would clean everything for each person and changing out the trays and sanitizing," he said. "It was a time-consuming process, and I actually appreciated the fact that they went to all that trouble to make sure that those that are getting tested aren't getting cross-contaminated during the testing."
Lesey understood testing was in high demand and was OK with waiting an estimated four days to receive his result — even though the Christmas presents under his tree blankly stared back at him.
But after receiving no result and calling to escalate his case three times between Dec. 27 and Thursday, and waiting on hold for more than 10 hours combined, Lesey was still in the same position.
The last call he waited 4.5 hours "to find out they don't escalate anymore because of the volume."
Lesey received his test result — which was negative — the morning of New Year's Eve. He does not believe he's the only one in a similar wait-and-see holding pattern even after the province moved to a five-day isolation requirement for fully vaccinated people with COVID-19 the same day Lesey received his result.
"I don't see how I could be an isolated case," he said.
In Thursday's technical briefing, Central Services Minister Reg Helwer, who has since been named Infrastrucuture Minister, said the province is still working to create more testing capacity, but provided few details about what that might look like.
Elizabeth Levesque doesn't believe she's alone either.
The retired human resources management staffer has lymphoma, and as a result of the chemotherapy she has received is immunosuppressed.
"You're very restricted as to the contacts you can have, particularly with this Omicron variant, which I understand is highly contagious," she said. "It makes it very challenging but I understand that we are all in the same position and so you do what you can."
7-day window for treatment
Levesque is triple vaccinated but wants to make sure there is a plan in place in case she does contract COVID-19. She believes the monoclonal antibody treatment the province is using would benefit an immunosuppressed person such as herself.
With the backlog in processing COVID-19 specimens, however, Levesque wonders if she could access monoclonal therapy before it was too late. The province's eligibility criteria for the treatment states an individual needs to have — at minimum — a positive COVID-19 test and symptoms of the illness that began in the last seven days.
"It would be almost impossible at this point to access any monoclonal therapy if you couldn't even come up with any test results," she said.
Levesque, who emailed Health Minister Audrey Gordon about her plight, simply wants more clarity from the province.
"I'm just trying to understand how the government is rolling out some of these programs, and it's been extremely difficult to try and access correct information, even from Health Links," she said.
Levesque hasn't spoken with anyone else who is immunosuppressed about what they can do, but she believes others like her deserve to hear that there is a definite strategy in place for what to do if they positive for the virus.
"The people that are immunosuppressed need to have a better idea of what they are supposed to do. We're trying to do everything we can personally to manage this, but there are some things that are out of our control.
"I would just like to know that if I do contract it, that I can access a test and get the results within the seven days that are noted on the government's website as being critical," Levesque said.