Manitoba has announced new restrictions that will take effect on Tuesday.

Our province is moving to Restricted (Orange) level on the Pandemic Response System. Updated orders that will come into effect on October 5th will include:

  • limiting households to guests from one other household for private indoor gatherings when any unvaccinated person who is eligible to be vaccinated is on the property (even if the unvaccinated person lives at that location)
  • limiting households to 10 guests outdoors, when any unvaccinated person who is eligible to be vaccinated is on the property (even if the unvaccinated person lives at that location)
  • reducing indoor public gathering group sizes to 25 people or 25 per cent capacity, whichever is lower, for gatherings that include unvaccinated people who are eligible to be vaccinated, including weddings and funerals
  • reducing indoor group sizes for faith-based gatherings to 25 people or 33 per cent capacity, whichever is greater, for gatherings that include unvaccinated people who are eligible to be vaccinated
  • reducing all outdoor public gathering sizes to 50 people
  • moving retail capacity to 50 per cent in the Southern Health region to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in this region

Fully immunized Manitobans and those under 12 who are not eligible for the vaccine may gather without capacity limits in each of these areas. Household gatherings, weddings, funerals and faith-based gatherings can occur for fully vaccinated individuals and those under 12 without any restrictions. For example, faith-based gatherings may take place with a choice of services at their discretion for fully immunized worshippers (no restrictions) or unvaccinated worshippers (restricted capacity as set out above).

The new orders will come into effect on Tuesday, October 5 at 12:01 am, with an additional one-week grace period for weddings and funerals already scheduled to minimize disruption.

According to Manitoba's top doctor, the tighter restrictions impacting retail in Southern Health is because of its lower vaccination rate and higher case count. As of Wednesday, 84.9 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. In Southern Health, the vaccine uptake is much lower, at 65.7 per cent. As of Wednesday, there were 668 active cases of COVID-19 in our province, with 205 of those in Southern Health.

"If we look at the estimated time for a case to double in the Southern Health region, it could double in less than three weeks, about nineteen days if things remain the same," says Chief Provincial Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin. "That means that region could be looking at an estimated 93 cases per day at that time."

He notes this could place the province's hospital system at risk if the rise continues unabated.

As of Thursday, Manitoba had 95 individuals in ICU, with 20 of those having COVID-19. Forty per cent of people in hospital with COVID-19 are from Southern Health, while 50 per cent of COVID-19 patients in ICU are from Southern Health.

According to health officials, if there are two or more new COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU per day, this will impact services. And, if there are three or more new COVID-19 patients per day, it will significantly impact non-COVID-19 services and may trigger out of province transfers. So far, 30,000 surgical, endoscopy and other procedures have been cancelled, deferred or postponed throughout the pandemic. The condition of many patients who previously had their procedures postponed, is becoming more urgent.

New protocols will be put in place to protect capacity at sites supporting patients in ICU, as well as those in need of surgery.

  • patients admitted to a hospital or health care facility for care will be assessed for their individual care requirements,
  • where it fits, they may be transferred to the most appropriate facility in Manitoba with the capacity to meet their needs to maintain ICU capacity.
  • this may mean that patients are medically transferred, at no cost, to a Manitoba facility located outside their home community but within the province (this includes patients who live in Winnipeg).