Northern Manitoba accounted for a majority of new COVID-19 cases reported by the provincial government Feb. 10 and two-thirds of the northern cases were from the Thompson/MysteryLake health district.
The 33rd death from the north was also among six announced on Wednesday. The man who died was in his 70s and his case was linked to outbreaks at St. Pauls’ Personal Care Home and the St. Anthony’s General Hospital dialysis unit in The Pas. Across Manitoba, 859 people have now died from COVID-19 since the pandemic reached the province about 11 months ago. Dr. Joss Reimer, medical officer of health with Manitoba Health and Seniors Care and medical lead on the vaccine implementation task force, said during a Feb. 10 press conference that nearly one in five Manitobans aged 70 or over who contracted the virus died as a result of their infections.
There were 59 new positive tests for COVID-19 reported in Manitoba on Wednesday, including 31 from the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA). Of those, 20 were from the Thompson health district and no other northern health district had more than three new cases since yesterday.
There are 255 Manitobans in hospital due to COVID-19, 99 of them with active infections and 17 of those with active infections are in intensive care. Another 17 who are no longer considered infectious are still receiving intensive care. Thirty-three people hospitalized are from the north. There are 17 from the region in hospital with active infections, including two in intensive care. Three of the 16 northerners who are still hospitalized but no longer infectious are in ICU.
The five-day provincial test positivity rate was 5.2 per cent on Wednesday.
50,554 doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines had been administered to Manitobans as of Feb. 9. About two-thirds of the total vaccines administered were first doses and the other third were second doses. Immunization teams will give about 2,600 personal care home residents their second doses of vaccine beginning this week and all personal care home residents are expected to have received their second doses by the end of the month.
Once the Vaxport site at the Thompson airport has vaccine supplies to begin operations, it is expected to be able to administer 402 vaccine doses per day to residents of remote communities and Northern Manitoba First Nations.
Manitoba has about 15,000 more doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and expects to receive about 3,500 more doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week and 15,000 next week. There is no timetable for when more of the Moderna vaccine, which is more easily transportable due to less extreme storage requirements, will be delivered to Manitoba.
