Outbreak at Personal Care Home considered over by province, Flin Flon district at two active cases

Good news for Flin Flon on the COVID-19 front. The health district containing Flin Flon is now down to two active cases of COVID-19 and the outbreak at Flin Flon Personal Care Home is now considered over.

The province announced the end of the PCH outbreak, along with three other outbreaks at health facilities or seniors' homes, Dec. 16. The outbreak at the Personal Care Home was announced last month after a staff member at the facility tested positive.

The Reminder has reached out to the Northern Health Region (NHR) for more information on what the end of the outbreak will mean for the facility, but is yet to receive comment.

Three outbreaks remain active in the north, according to the provincial government, including one in Flin Flon at the Northern Lights Manor. At least one staff member and two residents at the manor have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak was first announced. The two other outbreaks are both in The Pas/OCN/Kelsey district - the Rod McGillivary Care Home at Opaskwayak Cree Nation and the acute care inpatient unit at St. Anthony's Hospital in The Pas.

Provincial health data released Dec. 16 shows a decrease from three active cases Tuesday to only two in the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district. 

The Flin Flon district is not showing the same trend as several other northern districts, which are seeing increases in cases. The Island Lake district - which covers Red Sucker Lake, which has seen growing community spread of COVID-19 - now has 179 active cases of COVID-19, while the Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake district now has 257 active COVID-19 cases. Throughout northern Manitoba, 708 people have active COVID-19 cases.

One new possible public exposure was announced in The Pas - a person who later tested positive for COVID-19 was at Margaret Barbour Collegiate from Nov. 30-Dec. 3. The person is not considered to have contracted the disease at the school. It is the fifth time since Oct. 14 that a person who later tested positive for COVID-19 was confirmed to have been at the school. No other cases relating to the most recent exposure have been confirmed.

Throughout the province, 15 people have died from COVID-19, ranging from a man in his 40s in Winnipeg to a woman over 100 years old at the Park Manor Care Home in Winnipeg. All 15 deaths were reported in southern Manitoba communities.

In the past five days, 13.6 per cent of people who have been tested for COVID-19 in Manitoba have tested positive. The province now has 5,797 active cases, with 328 people in hospital and 46 in intensive care due to the disease.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan reported some positive news Wednesday, having a low day for new cases by recent standards.

The province reported 169 new cases of COVID-19, including 13 new cases in the far north east region. Of those new cases, four were found in the far north east 2 zone, which contains Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay and other nearby communities. The zone now has 112 active cases according to the most recent provincial data.

In Pelican Narrows, the community has reported 57 active cases as of Dec. 16, with 157 total cases found in the community according to the Angelique Canada Health Centre. The centre has announced one person in the community has died from COVID-19 and one other person has been hospitalized.

Saskatchewan now has 4,213 active cases. Province-wide, 124 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 30 of those people in intensive care.