Cross Lake COVID-19 cases go up, region-wide cases go down, Flin Flon stays COVID-19 free

Thursday brought mixed news for northern Manitoba on COVID-19 - a high number of new cases were found in the region, along with hundreds of new recoveries due to case data validation.

Case levels in the Northern Health Region (NHR) dropped overnight from 797 Wednesday to 521 Thursday, due in large part to updated case information from remote districts. A large number of cases from some districts - particularly in the Island Lake, Lynn Lake/Marcel Colomb/Leaf Rapids/O-Pipon-Na-Piwin/Granville Lake and Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/Gods River/Gods Lake districts - were moved from "active" to "recovered", drastically changing northern numbers. Those three districts saw a net decrease of 279 active cases from clearing the backlog.

While northern numbers have dropped, another 75 cases were reported throughout the north, mostly confined to three districts. Of the 75 cases announced in northern Manitoba, 52 were announced in the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak district, which due to data corrections elsewhere, is now the region's largest COVID-19 hotspot. The district now has 167 active cases of COVID-19 as of Feb. 18 - almost a full third of the north's remaining active cases.

New cases were also reported in Thompson - nine new cases were reported in the Thompson/Mystery Lake district, although active cases showed a slight decrease because of 11 reported recoveries - and in Island Lake, where eight new cases were found.

No new cases were found in the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon or the Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb districts. The two districts, covering Flin Flon and nearby communities, are the only places in the NHR with no active COVID-19 cases.

No new deaths, outbreaks or possible public exposures were reported in northern Manitoba Thursday. For up-to-date COVID-19 data by northern district, see below.

Manitoba as a whole reported its highest one-day new case numbers in days Thursday, with 138 net new cases. Two deaths due to COVID-19 were reported Feb. 18, both in people in Winnipeg. Manitoba is now down to 1,153 active cases, with 224 people hospitalized due to COVID-19, 27 of which are in intensive care.

Saskatchewan

Manitoba's western neighbour reported another 146 cases Thursday, including another five people in the far north east health zone. One of those five cases was reported in the far north east 2 health zone, which includes Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay - the zone is now up to 22 active cases. The Angelique Canada Health Centre, the main medical facility in Pelican Narrows, reported that 17 cases were active in the community Feb. 17 - the whereabouts of the remaining cases are unknown.

The Northern Village of Denare Beach shared a COVID-19 update of its own Feb. 17, accurate up to Feb. 16. The update shows COVID-19 data specific to Creighton and Denare Beach, a rarity in Saskatchewan which does not publicly release data for most communities. The data shows that the two communities have had 12 total cases combined since the beginning of the pandemic, with less than five cases either active or newly announced in the last week.

The report includes a caveat from health officials: "To preserve confidentiality, case numbers less than or equal to 5 in any category are reported as (less than) five," reads the report, meaning that the number of new cases in the past week, recoveries in the past week and current active cases ranges between zero and five.