Third wave in beginning stages

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2021 (1634 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a stark warning from one of the province’s top doctors Friday, Manitobans were cautioned a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is beginning.

The news came from vaccine team co-lead Dr. Joss Reimer on a day Manitoba recorded 179 new cases of the virus — the highest single-day total since the province’s 224 cases recorded on Jan. 23.

“Case numbers have been increasing in Ontario and Saskatchewan due to the increase in cases of variants of concern,” Reimer said. “We’ve seen that variants can have more serious side effects on younger people. We’re now starting to see our case numbers increasing overall in Manitoba. It looks like we’re in the beginning of a third wave.

“This means that the actions of all Manitobans are critical to ensure we continue to protect each other. … Enforcement of public health orders will be in place this weekend, because if we can’t control the transmission of COVID-19, Manitobans may see more restrictions in the days ahead.”

Friday also saw the announcement of 37 newly screened or sequenced cases of variants of concern, including three new cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in Prairie Mountain Health.

The total caseload of variants of concern in Prairie Mountain Health increased from one to seven this week.

As of 9:30 a.m., the province had administered at least one dose of vaccine to approximately 16 per cent of the population.

According to vaccine team logistics co-lead Johanu Botha, every dose that has arrived in Manitoba has either been injected or spoken for.

“It’s clear, though, that vaccine supply continues to challenge us,” he said. “Last week, I told you that a Moderna shipment was going to be delayed in getting to Manitoba. As a result of that delay, we had no choice but to postpone a number of pop-up clinics that were expected to run across the province. There was no other vaccine that we could have shifted to cover that shortfall.”

The Sun asked him if there would be an effort to get vaccines out to rural Manitoba after those pop-up clinics were cancelled. Botha said the operational team would have to decide once the new Moderna doses arrive, as the spread of the virus is changing.

Those doses may have to be distributed in a way that gets them into arms faster if that’s what is medically warranted, he warned.

With shipments from the federal government frequently delayed and the eligibility for the AstraZeneca vaccine currently reduced, Botha still said the province’s forecast to have 70 per cent of the population receive at least a single dose of vaccine by either May or June is still feasible.

During a vaccine technical briefing Friday morning, data was presented showing 3,063 doses of vaccine were administered last week at the Keystone Centre super site in Brandon, which brings the total number of doses administered at the site to 17,256 as of Thursday.

Of the five super sites, Brandon administered the third-most vaccine last week behind Winnipeg and Morden and has administered the second-most doses of vaccine after Winnipeg.

The Brandon site administers an average of 288 doses per day, which is ahead of only Thompson among the four sites.

After working through a data backlog, the province now has a more accurate picture of how many doses have gone into arms.

As of Friday, 259,847 of the 409,470 doses Manitoba has received have been injected. A further 92,300 doses have been allocated to First Nations partners, medical clinics and pharmacies.

The remaining 55,217 doses will go to vaccination appointments booked within the next 10 days. If Manitoba doesn’t receive any more doses, the province will run out of doses within that timeframe.

Current projections show Manitoba should hit 300,000 total doses administered by April 20.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Health told the Sun via email on Friday that Shared Health will reimburse staff for all travel-related expenses only if they are assigned to vaccination sites outside of their region.

Botha announced Manitoba’s next super site will launch next month at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation complex, which he said will have the capacity to administer approximately 4,000 doses per day.

A second super site will eventually be added to each of the province’s health regions.

Next week, Reimer, Botha, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Health Minister Heather Stefanson will hold a pair of telephone town hall on the pandemic. Tuesday’s session will be for rural and northern residents, while Thursday’s will be for Winnipeggers. To sign up, visit engagemb.ca.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark