3 Manitoba schools notified of possible exposures to more transmissible coronavirus variant

Three Manitoba schools have been notified of possible exposures to more transmissible coronavirus variants.

Letters have gone out to affected students and staff at O.V. Jewitt Community Schooland cole Tachin Winnipeg and Pine Ridge Elementary School in Winkler, Dr. Jazz Atwal, the acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, said at a news conference Friday.

"We're seeing an increasednumber of cases. We're seeing more variants of concern froma case perspective as well, so itwas bound to happen in a school setting," he said.

Both Winnipeg schoolexposures are linked to close contacts of a confirmed case of a variant of concern.

All close contacts and their householdcontacts are isolating, Atwal said.

WATCH | Dr. Jazz Atwal on exposures to variants of concern:

Dr. Jazz Atwal on possible exposures to more transmissible coronavirus variant in 3 Manitoba schools

4 years ago

Duration 1:13

Dr. Jazz Atwal, the acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, said Friday more contagious coronavirus variants were 'bound' to occur in schools as they become more common in the general public. But Atwal said the province is aggressively contact tracing all cases and schools continue to be safe.

Public health officials are stillinvestigating the source of the exposure at the Winkler school, but Atwal said all affected school cohorts, including bus cohorts and household contacts, are isolating.

"We're very aggressive with that variant of concern. We want to make sure we mitigate that risk of variants of concern propagating in Manitoba," he said.

Anyone who is considered a close contact will be contacted by public health officials, he said. Parents are being asked to monitortheir children for symptoms and get them tested if they begin to feel ill.

Atwal wouldn't say which coronavirus variants students and staff were exposed to.

No additional cases of variants of concern have been identified in the province. There have been76 coronavirus variant cases identified to date; all but four have been in the Winnipeg region.

Man in 30s dies

Atwal also announced a man in his 30s from the Northern Health Region has died and the province is reporting 93 cases of COVID-19.

Of the new cases, 39 are in the Winnipeg health region, 29 are in the Northern Health Region, 14 are in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 10 are in the Southern Health region and one is in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate stayed at 4.7 per cent. In Winnipeg, that rate is 3.5 per cent, down from 3.6 on Thursday.

In order to keep the virus from spreading among vulnerable populations, public health officials now strongly recommend people get tested for COVID-19 before travelling to First Nations and other northern and remote communities, Atwal said. The same advice applies toresidents who havebeen away for more than 48 hours.

Testing is not required for individuals who have had aCOVID-19 diagnosis in the past three months, but is still recommended for those who have received one or both doses of the vaccine.

WATCH | Atwal on defining variant outbreaks:

Dr. Jazz Atwal on when province will notify public of virus variant cases

4 years ago

Duration 0:57

Dr. Jazz Atwal, the acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, said Friday the province is looking into whether clusters of cases linked to coronavirus variants of concern constitute outbreaks, and said details would be announced if there is risk to the public.

There are now 136 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Manitoba, down 10 since Thursday. There are also 21 people in intensive care,down from 23.

There are 1,127 active cases and 31,130 people have recovered from COVID-19.

There were 2,130COVID-19 tests done in Manitoba on Thursday.

2 Winnipeg outbreaks over

Meanwhile, outbreaks are now considered over at Concordia Place Personal Care Home and at the Rady Jewish Community Centre's Early Learning Centre, both in Winnipeg.

The update comes a day after the province announced it is considering loosening public health orders and moving out of code red.

The province on Thursday said it is considering exiting code red, the highest alert level of the provincial pandemic response system,for the first time in four months, moving into the orange level and loosening a number of restrictions.

As it has done with other easings of restrictions, the province has launched an online survey to gauge the public's comfort level with its proposals and to get feedback.

The reopening proposal comes as more cases of highly contagious coronavirus variants are being reported in the province.

Twelve more cases involving more transmissible coronavirus variants were announced Thursday, bringing Manitoba's total known variant caseload to 76.

WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | March 19, 2021:

Manitoba government daily briefing on coronavirus: March 19, 2021

4 years ago

Duration 36:14

Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Friday, March 19, 2021.