Manitoba COVID-19, flu and RSV numbers stable or declining for another week

COVID-19, influenza and RSVactivity continues to decline or remain stable in Manitoba for the fifth week of 2023, the latest surveillance report says.

There were 11 COVID-19 related hospitalizationsduring the week of Jan.29 to Feb. 4, according to the latest provincial data, an increase oversix one week earlier.

A spokesperson with Manitoba Health said hospitalizations have in fact gone down compared to the previous week, but the report doesn't show the most accurate figures due to a data reporting delay.

Intensive care unit admissions stayed relatively stable, with three ICU admissions; there were two the week of Jan. 22-28 and three Jan. 15-21.

There were 11 COVID-19 related deaths, compared to 10 and 15 in the preceding two weeks.

Weekly test positivity rates remained relatively stable at 10.7 per cent (it was 10.5 per cent the week before),with a similar pattern in terms of new positive cases: there were 65 in the week of Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, compared to 62 one week earlier. There were 122 positive cases in the week ofJan. 8-14.

Reported cases are considered to be a significant undercount, since the province only reports cases confirmed through PCR testing, which is limited.

In an email to CBC, Shared Health said the average daily number of patients at the HSC Children's hospital emergency department is on a downward trend from previous months.

The department saw an average of 116.2 patients per day in January, which is down from 130.1 in December and 170.3 in November.

As of Friday, Shared Health said there were 45 patients receivingneonatal intensive care, 12 receiving pediatric intensive care, and an additional three pediatric patients who were receiving care in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Although numbers at the HSC Children's hospital seem to be improving, more time is neededto decide whether operational changes made at the hospital to support pediatric intensive care patients will remain in place. Shared Health says those changes have caused some surgeries to be postponed.

Influenza

During the week of Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, test positivity rates for influenza A, the most common strain, rose slightly to 0.8 per cent (up from 0.5 per cent). The national averagewas 0.7 per cent.

The number of positive flu diagnoses dropped to three, compared to nine the week priorand 10 the week before that.

There were zero patients admitted to hospital or ICU with flu symptoms for the second week in a row. That's compared two hospital admissions each week from Jan. 8-14and Jan. 15-21.

There were also no reported flu-relateddeaths for another week, the report says.

Shared Health says around just over 22 per cent of the 113 patients at the HSC Children's emergency department on Thursday were experiencing flu-like symptoms, which is a drop from three weeks ago, when the number was around 50 per cent.

RSV

RSV test positivity was 6.2 per cent, up from 5.7 per cent, 8.3 per cent and 8.7 percent in the four weeks leading up toJan.29 to Feb. 4.

There were 75 RSV cases detected; 76 were detected a week earlier, fromJan. 22-28.

The overall number of patients coming to the HSC Children's with RSV-related illness continues to drop, Shared Health said, with six infants and toddlers being admitted for the week ending Feb. 3.

There have been a total of 67 RSV-related admissions since the start of the new year, they said, with 12 of those requiring intensive care.

Wastewater surveillance suggested sustained COVID-19 activity inWinnipeg and Brandon.

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