Reports of individuals failing to self-isolate as they joined large-group gatherings in the Prairie Mountain Health region has led the province to crack down and impose a new public health order.
Beginning today, Manitobans are required to self-isolate for 14 days if they have tested positive for COVID-19 or if they have been exposed to the virus by close contact. Failure to do so can result in fines for non-compliance — up to $486.
"All individuals this applies to will be contacted by Public Health through the usual process," said chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.
"Once notified, the person must go to their residence or an approved self-isolation location and remain there for 14 days, or as long as directed by Public Health."
Roussin said Public Health did not necessarily confirm reports of gatherings.
"What concerned us in the Prairie Mountain Health region, especially in the Brandon region, was the number of large gatherings that we linked cases to, then reports of large gatherings that had people who should have been self-isolating in attendance," he said.
Roussin said those reports, as well as increasing numbers, led to the decision to designate Prairie Mountain Health as orange according to the province’s pandemic response system, as well as to implement a non-compliance order.
Seeking to clarify a topic of much confusion and consternation in Brandon — how the province could designate the health region as orange, while schools in the area remain at yellow — Roussin said the goal of the colour levels is to target the epidemiology of an area.
The province raised the level to orange in Brandon because of a number of rising indicators and the epidemiology indicated a lot of those were related to large-group gatherings.
"That’s why we tailored it on the large-group gatherings, to reduce gathering sizes. But we didn’t apply the order to any other sector," he said.
The pandemic response system document states what may occur at the orange level, but the only aspects of the orange level the province moved on are limiting group sizes to 10 and making masks mandatory in public spaces.
"Just like (with) restaurants, retail and any other sector, we did not apply (orange) to schools at this time," he said.
Meanwhile, a Brandon resident who asked not to be named told The Sun that St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg cancelled an important appointment — already rescheduled three times since March — due to a directive not to serve people from the Prairie Mountain Health region.
The Brandon resident and family members are not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, nor had they been around anyone who tested positive, they said. They’ve remained in a bubble. They said the hospital would not reconsider.
Roussin, while not familiar with the particulars of that case, said public health has not given a directive to cancel anything, or any hospital procedures, as an overall status.
The Sun could not reach communications personnel at the hospital Thursday afternoon.
Beginning Sept. 1, all visitors arriving at health-care facilities — health centres and hospitals — throughout the province will be required to wear a non-medical mask. The directive doesn’t apply to private primary care clinics, but Public Health strongly encourages Manitobans to wear masks when seeking care, Roussin said.
Employers need to prepare for excessive levels of absenteeism, Roussin said. Anyone experiencing even minor symptoms, such as a scratchy throat or mild headache, are asked to self-isolate and get tested.
Temperature is not a trustworthy indicator, he said.
Roussin also encouraged every eligible Manitoban to get a flu shot this fall.
CODE RED FOR BRANDON CARE HOME
A previously identified COVID-19 case in the Prairie Mountain Health region is a health-care worker from the Rideau Park Personal Care Home in Brandon, according to a statement released Thursday morning by the health authority.
The care home is now in the critical red level of the province’s pandemic response system.
Further, the health authority stated the health-care worker wore protective personal equipment (PPE) and is self-isolating, while close contacts have been identified and the case investigation is continuing.
PPE requirements currently at Rideau Park Personal Care Home are face mask and eye protection, plus the continued use of good hand hygiene practices, before and after all patient contact, according to a spokesperson for the health authority.
The Brandon Sun reached out to chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin by email to ask when the worker was infected and when they worked prior to testing positive.
"We’re not able to provide that information to ensure the privacy of the individual. However, we can confirm that the individual is self-isolating," stated a provincial spokesperson by email.
"Once the region was made aware of the positive test result, case investigations began, and close contacts were identified and notified. Public health officials have assessed the risk to be low, and the outbreak protocols were implemented in an abundance of caution. This information was shared with residents, families and staff, as well as the public."
The regional health authority stated families, staff and close contacts have been informed.
"While no other cases have been identified as linked to this case and the risk is assessed to be low, out of an abundance of caution an outbreak has been declared," the PMH statement reads.
"This means the site is putting additional measures in place to further reduce the risk to residents and staff, and restricts visitation at the facility."
Roussin, during his Thursday afternoon update, told the press the facility had been upgraded to the critical red level. This means the site is putting additional measures in place to further reduce the risk to residents and staff, and is restricting visitation at the facility.
The Sun learned families were advised of the situation early afternoon on Wednesday. The health authority did not confirm with The Sun until Thursday morning, while public health official confirmed the situation 24 hours after families were notified.
"What’s important with these cases is we get the report, we’ll notify an individual of their positive status. We then start a case investigation. So just from the requisition, it’s unlikely that we’ll know anything about where they work," Roussin said.
"We have to reach out to that individual. We have to hear where they work, when the symptoms started, if they’re in the period of activity, then we do a thorough investigation. So the (public) reporting is a sort of an afterthought once we have everything in line."
He said close contacts are notified as soon as they can be found, and that is mostly within 24 hours.
"Then we’ll make a public announcement when we are certain our investigation is accurate."
BY THE NUMBERS
The province announced 22 new cases of COVID-19 as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday. A case previously reported on Aug. 15 was removed from the case totals, bringing yesterday’s count to 21 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases to 1,064.
Nine of the new cases are in the Prairie Mountain Health region, bringing the total number of active cases to 212, with 373 recovered and one death. The number of active cases in Brandon is 126.
The five-day positivity rate is three per cent. Roussin said that high number is due to targeted testing in known clusters.
Roussin also reported an additional death — a women in her 90s associated with the outbreak at Bethesda Place in Steinbach in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region. The total number of deaths is now 14.
Province-wide, there are 407 active cases, with 643 people recovered. Six people are in hospital, with one person in intensive care.
On Wednesday, 1,429 laboratory tests were done, for 130,835 tests conducted since February.
