Let’s stay vigilant over the holidays

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2020 (2103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Though numbers have been trending slowly downward for the last week or two, Manitobans received strong evidence on Monday that all the code red restrictions we have been forced to endure for the last several weeks are finally having the desired effect.

For the first time since late October, the daily case count for new COVID-19 cases fell to 167, and the five-day test positivity rates dropped to 11.5 per cent for Manitoba, and 10.5 per cent in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, another four Manitobans died of COVID-19.

The province first announced changes to its #RestartMB Pandemic Response System on Oct. 30, moving the Winnipeg Metro Region into the code red restriction zone and three health districts — including Prairie Mountain Health — into a code orange. With viral cases continuing to rise in the wake of that decision, the entire province was then moved into code red restrictions less than two weeks later.

Retail businesses and personal services businesses had to close their storefronts, with only those listed as critical services able to stay open at 25 per cent capacity.

Religious and cultural gathering places were told to close, setting up a minor showdown in court several weeks later when a Steinbach church challenged the legality of such a restriction, only to lose to the province in court, and yet gain a loosening of the restrictions by the province just days later.

And in the interim, Manitobans have been unable to take advantage of recreational activities as they would like to, with sports facilities, casinos, museums, galleries, libraries, movie theatres and various concert halls all shuttered to the public.

It has been a troubling and challenging fall in Manitoba. And yet twice since the restrictions were put in place, the entire province has hit test positivity rates of 14.2 per cent — the last one on Dec. 14 only eight days ago — showing that some kind of provincial action was necessary to control the spread of the disease.

But the line on the graph for Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate is finally going in the right direction, after weeks of what appeared to be a plateau of sorts, as the rate hovered at the 13 per cent mark on average.

While this is positive news, it is far too tempting for all of us to begin lowering our guard, especially as the Christmas and New Year holidays are nearly upon us. Manitoba Public Health officials seemed acutely aware of this potential problem too, as both Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba’s acting deputy chief public health officer, and Health Minister Cameron Friesen both went out of their way to warn the public against getting a false sense of security.

“Our case numbers are down today, which is definitely a positive,” Dr. Atwal said during Monday’s news conference. “However, we must remain vigilant. We can’t let these numbers lull us into a false sense of security.”

“Manitobans are starting to be immunized but, of course, just like the solstice and the turning point, we know that it’s going to take a lot more time for many people to get the vaccine,” added Friesen.

Though we note, Friesen, too, seemed enthusiastic about the lower case numbers, repeatedly describing the winter solstice as a “turning point” for Manitoba’s pandemic response.

While we share Friesen’s hope, Westman residents have suffered through COVID-19 restrictions several weeks longer than other jurisdictions in the province, and we know how quickly and insidiously the numbers can change on us. Lowering our guard is not a good idea.

Yet the temptation to buck the regulations and meet with our friends and family in the coming week will be strong, especially for those who live alone or those who have aging parents or siblings.

Whether we see vaccinations begin in Westman sooner or later should have no bearing on our actions. After all, we don’t need to see coronavirus numbers further spike in the wake of the holiday season. This will only further hurt our business community, leave more people filling hospital beds in the ICU, and potentially lead to the unnecessary deaths of more of our population.

How long we stay under these awful restrictions depends entirely on how we handle the next two weeks.