Manitoban dies from COVID in Ont. hospital

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This article was published 03/06/2021 (1978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man in his 30s is the first COVID-19 related death of a Manitoba resident to occur in an intensive care unit outside the province, Shared Health reported Wednesday.

“The ICU patient who was cared for at an Ontario hospital since May 20, has died,” Shared Health said in a release. No further details were available.

In an effort to manage the ongoing surge of patients, five more COVID-19 patients were transported out of province on June 1.

Four of the five patients went to Ontario hospitals in Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Thomas-Elgin and Markham. One patient was sent to hospital in Saskatchewan. Due to privacy of the patients, Shared Health and the Saskatchewan government did not indicate specifically where the patient was transferred.

One patient was repatriated to a hospital in Manitoba on Tuesday following care in an Ontario ICU.

Alberta Health Services reached an agreement with the Manitoba government to accept up to 10 intensive care patients from the province. The province is currently receiving assistance from the Ontario and Saskatchewan governments with federal support from the Canadian Armed Forces.

The number of critically ill COVID patients from Manitoba being treated out of province is 40. This includes 38 patients in Ontario and two in Saskatchewan.

The number of patients returned to Manitoba for ongoing hospital care following discharge from an out-of-province ICU is now at seven.

The number of critically ill COVID patients transported out of province since May 18 is now at 48. That includes 46 patients to Ontario and two to Saskatchewan.

More patients were scheduled to be transported out of province to Ontario hospitals on Wednesday.

Shared Health reported 11 more COVID patients were admitted to ICU in a 24-hour period ending midday Tuesday. This is a continuation of a weeks-long trend, stressing the province’s critical care program. The admissions are in addition to non-COVID patients who require critical care.

In May, 253 COVID patients were admitted to ICU, which is more than five times the totals for April. The numbers referenced from Tuesday’s 24-hour period will be included in the June statistics.

As of midnight Wednesday, 127 patients were in Manitoba ICUs, including 69 who have or are recovering from COVID-19 and 16 of these 69 patients under the age of 40.

The normal, pre-COVID baseline capacity for ICU was 72 patients.

There were three more deaths in the province related to COVID-19 Wednesday.

A woman in her 50s from the Winnipeg health region died of COVID-19. A man in is 60s from the Winnipeg health region died of the B.1.1.17 variant, and a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region died from the B.1.1.7 variant.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 12 per cent provincially and 13.5 per cent in Winnipeg. There were 232 new cases of the virus in the province. However, six cases have been removed due to data correction. This brings the net-new number of cases today to 226 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 51,316.

The following is a breakdown of cases reported Wednesday:

• 10 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;

• 13 cases in the Northern health region;

• five cases in Prairie Mountain Health;

• 36 cases in Southern Health–Santé Sud; and

• 168 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

There were 4,333 active cases and 45,927 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

There were 229 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 76 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 305 hospitalizations.

There were 51 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 21 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 72 ICU patients.

There were 2,396 laboratory tests completed Tuesday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 772,477.

There were 1,056 deaths in people with COVID-19, the province reported Wednesday.

Outbreaks have been declared at Health Sciences Centre, GD4; Grace Hospital, 3 South; Beacon Hill Lodge Personal Care Home in Winnipeg, and the Surgery Unit at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre. The facilities have been moved to the critical (red) level.

» kkielley@brandonsun.com