Variant cases reach 50 per cent of total

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/05/2021 (1961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba recorded its highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases since December, with 295 cases announced Friday.

There were 50 new cases in Prairie Mountain Health, which is also the highest single-day total since December.

Acting deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal said during his Friday COVID-19 media briefing that cases of variants of concern now make up approximately 50 per cent of Manitoba’s new cases, with the highest proportion of cases being found in the province’s south.

Because of this, Manitoba will now treat every positive case of COVID-19 as if it is a variant of concern case.

Of the variant of concern cases the province is seeing, the majority is made up of the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

“With case counts rising and the proportion of (variant of concern) cases increasing, public health needs to focus its resources on first case investigations to get as much information as possible, as soon as possible,” Atwal said. “That’s why public health will no longer be specifically notifying all people if they screen positive for the B.1.1.7 variant of concern. In areas of the province where the proportion of (variants of concern) and B.1.1.7 are low such as in northern and remote communities, this notification and check may still occur and continue for B.1.1.7.”

With case counts on the rise, Atwal called for Manitobans to adhere to the new health orders put in place earlier this week as “public health cannot do this alone.”

Multiple times during the briefing, members of the media asked Atwal to share information from the province’s modelling showing how it expects the third wave of the pandemic to progress.

The doctor declined to provide any information, saying too much emphasis is being put on modelling. Although he downplayed the utility of models, he warned Manitobans to expect further increases in daily case counts.

“Don’t worry about a model, let’s worry about our interactions with people,” Atwal said. “Let’s worry about making sure that our friends, our family and our neighbours are adhering to the orders, adhering to the messaging. Let’s make sure when it’s your time to get that vaccine, you get that vaccine.”

In December and January, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin referenced the province’s modelling to warn Manitobans how deadly the second wave could get. He also used modelling to talk about how many lives had been saved by moving the province to code red conditions.

Asked why the province isn’t instituting restrictions as severe as those implemented last November, Atwal said there is currently only a 33 per cent week-by-week increase in cases compared to the 50 per cent seen last year.

The province updated its guidelines for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, with anyone aged 30 to 39 now eligible to receive their shot.

In addition, Manitobans who are pregnant, clients of Community Living disABILITY Services, those who work in any health-care setting (including outpatients settings) or work in the provincial vaccine warehouse are now able to book vaccination appointments at super sites and pop-up clinics as of 2 p.m. today.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

 

SIDEBAR: Providence Therapeutics wants out

The biotech company Manitoba made a deal with to make COVID-19 vaccines in Canada is in the process of organizing a move overseas, the CBC reported on Friday.

Providence Therapeutics CEO Brad Sorenson expressed frustrations with Canada’s provincial and federal governments and said his company would work on developing a vaccine for the southern hemisphere.

In February, Premier Brian Pallister announced Manitoba had entered into a deal with the company to have its COVID-19 vaccines still in development manufactured in a Winnipeg facility and for them to give Manitoba first access to doses produced.

Pallister said at the time agreement included a non-refundable down payment of $7.2 million.

In an email to the Sun, the province’s director of media relations and issues management Blake Robert wrote that the deal has not been finalized and no payment was ever made to Providence.

“While Providence is the developer of the vaccine, their Canadian partners Northern RNA and Emergent Biosolutions remain an integral part of Providence’s vaccine production plans,” he wrote. “A finalized agreement would still result in vaccines for Manitoba being produced at Emergent’s facility in Winnipeg, which supports our government’s efforts to enhance domestic vaccine production.”

» The Brandon Sun