For the second time in eight days, Northern Manitoba reported no new COVID-19 infections July 19.
Prior to July 12, the last time that happened was early October of last year.
There were 37 new cases of COVID-19 reported across the province on Monday, including 21 in Winnipeg and eight each in the Interlake-Eastern and southern health regions. The five-day test positivity rate was 3.6 per cent.
One death due to COVID-19 was reported, the 1,165th death related to the virus in Manitoba since the pandemic began.
There were 117 Manitobans in hospital due to the disease, including 27 in intensive care. No Manitobans are being treated in out-of-province ICUs anymore. Five northern residents are in hospital due to the virus, one of whom is in intensive care.
The province reported a possible COVID-19 exposure on Perimeter Aviation flight JV415 from Shamattawa to Thompson from 5:42 p.m. to 6:55 p.m July 16.
Deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal said a press conference July 19 that vaccination is the best defence against the virus, noting that 77 per cent of about 35 people admitted to hospital due to the virus in the past week had not had a single dose of vaccine.
He also said that Manitobans will have to deal with the virus even if vaccination targets for reopening are met, since there will still be many unvaccinated Manitobans, including all of those 11 years old and younger.
“We’re going to have to learn to deal with COVID just like other illnesses that cause hospitalization” such as influenza, Atwal said. “People are still going to get COVID. Most people will have a mild illness. We need to start to normalize COViD to some degree.”
