COVID-19 is appearing to slow down in southern Manitoba, while the disease is staying stable in Saskatchewan.
New cases in Manitoba are still higher than the levels seen in the province in the late spring and early summer, but are far down from their peak levels in early August. Over the long weekend, 65 new cases of COVID-19 were reported province-wide, with the brunt of the new cases found in Winnipeg, Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) and Southern Health-Sante Sud.
No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Northern Health Region. One case is currently considered active, located within the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon health district. No advisories have been released regarding the person's whereabouts or any location they may have visited while symptomatic.
Since the pandemic began, 146,064 Manitobans have been tested for COVID-19 - the equivalent of just under 10 per cent of the province’s population - and 1,338 people have tested positive. On Sept. 7, 412 people were still sick with the disease.
According to the Manitoba government’s pandemic response system, the province is at a yellow level, urging “caution” and adding while COVID-19 is still a threat, transmission across the province are low. People showing symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to stay home, while everyone is asked to practice social distancing, handwashing and cough etiquette and to wear a mask indoors when social distancing is difficult or impossible. Group sizes are, for the most part, limited to 50 people indoors and 100 people outside, with events, workplaces or schools with higher numbers separated into smaller cohorts. Non-essential travel out of the province - with exceptions for travel between border communities such as Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach - is “strongly discouraged”, according to current health orders.
Travel to northern communities is officially restricted, but there are no official reports of any checkpoints or roadblocks along either Highway 6 or 10 to block travellers from entering the region.
Restrictions are still in place for PMH, with masks mandated in all indoor public spaces and gatherings. Four health facilities - three personal care homes and the second floor of the Assiniboine Building at Brandon Regional Health Centre - are currently considered “critical” and are red on the province’s alert system, with an active outbreak declared in each facility and restrictions in place on visitors. Similar restrictions are in place for a trio of personal care homes in the Winnipeg region, along with an outbreak in Southern Health at Bethesda Place which has been linked to at least four deaths.
As of Sept. 7, every health region in Manitoba has at least one active case of COVID-19. The Northern Health Region has reported one active case. Ten active cases are in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, while 42 people are currently sick in Southern Health. Within Winnipeg, 141 people had COVID-19, but PMH led the way provincially with 218 active cases of COVID-19.
Thirteen Manitobans were in hospital due to COVID-19 on Sept. 7, with three people in intensive care. From Sept. 2-6, the five-day test positivity rate was 1.3 per cent, meaning on average one out of every 77 people tested province-wide had the disease. Manitoba is currently limiting testing to people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19, who have been deemed close contacts or people around others who have already tested positive or others who have been referred by health providers.
Saskatchewan
Levels of the disease in Canada’s Breadbasket are keeping steady, but the province is seeing a slight increase in positive tests.
The province saw two days with double-digit positive tests in the past week, the first time that has happened since mid-August. Those totals include 11 new cases found Sept. 7, with those cases spread out over most of the province - two cases each in the far north west, central west and Saskatoon regions, with one case each found in the central east, south west, south central and south east zones. One case had an unknown location.
Saskatchewan has, as of Sept. 7, 58 active cases of COVID-19, including three in the far north, all on the west side of the province. Including both areas considered north and far north, there are 11 active cases of COVID-19, none of which are in eastern portions of Saskatchewan near areas like Flin Flon, Creighton or Denare Beach.
One person is in intensive care in a Saskatchewan hospital due to COVID-19.
Tests are open to anyone interested in getting one in Saskatchewan, even if the person presents with no symptoms.
