The Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon health district has cleared 80 per cent of the total eligible population with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
As of Feb. 4, the district became the 13th district in northern Manitoba to clear the four-fifths mark for first dose percentage, sitting currently at 80.3 per cent.
The area had cleared the 80 per cent eligible vaccination mark previously in 2021 - that number changed in November when kids age five and up became eligible to receive vaccine doses, increasing the eligibility pool and pushing down percentages temporarily.
The Flin Flon district is tied for the second-lowest first dose percentage of any health district in northern Manitoba. Only the Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb Cree Nation health district has a lower percentage - the region has a 72.6 first dose percentage, the only district under 80 per cent left in northern Manitoba.
Despite having a relatively low first dose percentage, the Flin Flon district sits in the middle of the northern pack in second doses with 75 per cent of all eligible people having received two vaccine doses - seventh highest of the northern districts.
The numbers put Flin Flon well below the provincial average vaccine rate - a total of 85.8 per cent of eligible people in the province have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with 80 per cent having two - 41.1 per cent of the population have also had a third dose booster.
Almost 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Manitoba, including first, second and third doses. Doses can be received, either by appointment or by walk-in on occasion, at the Flin Flon Primary Health Care office uptown.
Flin Flon vaccination numbers are still far above those for other nearby communities, such as Creighton and Denare Beach. According to most recent available data, 77.3 per cent of eligible Creighton and Flin Flon, Sask. residents have had at least one vaccine dose, while 73.3 per cent have had two or more. In Denare Beach, those numbers drop off even further, with only 65.6 per cent of eligible people in the community with one dose and 59.5 per cent with two, according to data from the Saskatchewan Health Authority issued Feb. 3.
The number of listed active COVID-19 cases for the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon health district, as of Feb. 4, is 102, the highest mark the district has reported so far during the pandemic. In northern Manitoba, 2,447 people are listed as active COVID-19 cases as of Feb. 4.
That data is not completely representative of the northern COVID-19 situation, as it only represents positive results from PCR testing or from rapid tests administered by medical professionals - results from self-administered rapid tests are not included, making the announced numbers likely far lower than actual case numbers. Overall active case loads in some northern districts have dropped this week due to more cases being moved from "active" to "recovered" - high numbers of newly infected people caused a logjam in health data for recovered cases being confirmed until earlier this week.
Throughout the NHR, 60 people from the region are in hospital due to COVID-19 (up from last week), with nine of those people in intensive care. Province-wide, 707 people are in Manitoba hospitals due to COVID-19, with 52 people requiring intensive care treatment due to the disease - both numbers are down from last week.
Three northern Manitoba residents - two from Thompson/Mystery Lake, one from the remote Sayisi Dene/Tadoule/Barren Lands/Brochet/Northlands/Lac Brochet district - died from the disease this week.
