Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 2, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A11 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2021 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A 11NEWS I COVID-19 PANDEMIC 75 Falcon Ridge Drive, Winnipeg MB R3Y 2C2 • 431-778-6105 CALL 431-778-6105 FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK A TOUR The Courtyards at Linden Pointe is a community for independent seniors, designed with amenities and services that provide for those basic everyday needs. The perfect place to not let the little things in life slow you down. STUDIO, ONE AND TWO BEDROOM SUITES MOVE INSPECIALS STEINBACH — Manitoba will send pharmaceuticals to other provinces in need during the fourth wave. Premier Kelvin Goertzen said Friday the province has sent medications to Alberta for critically ill COVID-19 pa- tients, and will help other provinces as much as it can in the meantime. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario took in Manitoba patients during the third-wave surge. “What we can do, we’d like to do,” Goertzen said. “We did ship doses of pharmaceut- icals to Alberta for their ICU patients where we had the ability to do that.” On Sept. 22, Manitoba sent a supply of tocilizumab, a drug used to treat moderate to severely ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients, to Alberta, Shared Health confirmed. Goertzen said he’s had discussions with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe about the fourth wave and will offer assistance, but not in a way that would jeopardize Manitoba’s health-care sys- tem. “We’re not going to do anything to diminish ICU capacity, but again, we do have a responsibility where we can to help other provinces, and pharmaceuticals made sense,” Goertzen said. The premier made the comments during a news conference in Steinbach Friday morning, where he announced a $32-million expansion to the Bethesda Regional Health Centre expected to in- clude 23 new acute-care beds and an in- hospital dialysis unit. Currently, there are 23 patients in the southeast region who have to travel to Winnipeg to undergo dialysis and would benefit from the planned six-station unit at Bethesda, Shared Health con- firmed. The dialysis program expansion is expected to go out to tender later this year, with construction starting next spring, the premier said. Meanwhile, Goertzen said making decisions about new public health or- ders that target unvaccinated residents were “gut-wrenching,” but said Mani- toba “can’t get to that place again.” The new measures, including raising the province to orange-restricted level, go into effect Tuesday. “We need to do what we can to blunt the fourth wave, so every decision is based on what’s the minimum amount of restrictions you can have to still be able to ensure that people can get those services... I know that this is difficult but I think Manitobans have to under- stand that we can’t get into the situa- tion, we need to do everything that we possibly can to avoid the situation that we had in the third wave.” Manitoba is currently at surge cap- acity in its intensive care units — there were 19 COVID-19 patients in ICUs Fri- day morning, but 97 ICU patients total. Pre-pandemic, the province had 72 ICU beds. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Manitoba sends meds to Alberta, pledges help for other provinces KATIE MAY THE air may be getting cooler, the leaves may be starting to fall, but patio season isn’t over yet. The City of Winnipeg announced Friday res- taurants and bars can begin applying for tempor- ary winter patio registration, allowing eligible businesses to keep outdoor spaces open through to the end of March 2022. In a release Friday, the city said current sum- mer patio registrations will automatically be ex- tended until the end of October, while businesses looking to keep their patios open from Nov. 1 on- ward can begin applying for temporary winter registration as of Oct. 1. All businesses looking for winter weather patio approval will need to submit new ap- plications — including those with approved summer registrations — and must meet the additional operating requirements. The city has prepared guidelines for heaters, tents or shelters, and snow removal, all of which are available online. City officials plan to regularly evaluate the program to ensure patios are in compliance with civic safety rules and provincial public health or- ders. The city said it plans to waive the processing fee for winter patio registration, and no other charges are associated with the registration pro- cess. More than 100 businesses in Winnipeg oper- ated summer patios this year, the city said. City preps for winter patio season O TTAWA — There’s no definitive word on just how many people need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach herd immunity but, whatever it is, Canada’s top doctor says the highly contagious delta variant has set the goalpost even farther away. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief pub- lic health officer, has previously said she would like to see all eligible age groups at least 80 per cent fully vac- cinated as soon as possible to fight the surge in COVID-19 cases. As of the latest update, that’s true for everyone over the age of 50, with people in their 40s close behind at 79 per cent. “Delta variant, of course, being more transmissible has led to an increase in vaccine coverage level requirement to help move towards community immun- ity, or herd immunity,” Tam said at a briefing Friday. Herd immunity — when enough people have been vaccinated COVID-19 can no longer thrive — has been de- scribed as the finish line for the pan- demic: if only enough people get vaccin- ated, Canada could cross that line and life could return more or less to normal. Tam suggested vaccination coverage may now need to be 80 per cent for the whole population, as opposed to just those who qualify for the vaccine. While 81 per cent of those who qual- ify are fully vaccinated, Canada’s total population is only about 70 per cent vac- cinated. There’s no vaccine currently approved for children under 12. Public Health Ontario went even far- ther in a July evidence brief related to the province’s reopening plans. “The critical threshold for vaccina- tion is now estimated to be at least 90 per cent of the Ontario population, and over 100 per cent of the vaccine-eligible population,” Public Health Ontario re- ported. Tam said the magic number will be different for each community based on how many people in the area have already contracted the virus and the density of the population. Her message, as ever, is the more people who get the shot the better. “Reach for the stars, get to 100 per cent if you could, even though that seems like a stretch goal,” Tam said. “That’s what you need to do with a very transmissible variant.” The average weekly rate of new COVID-19 cases was 10 times higher among the unvaccinated compared to the fully vaccinated, Tam said. The weekly rate of hospitalizations was 38 times higher. Of those that are eligible for the shot, 18- to 39-year-olds are the least fully- vaccinated group in the country at only 70 per cent. But public health officials have seen a big uptick in recent weeks as vaccine passports have come into effect. “At the end of the day I think it’s about giving privileges to those who’ve made, I think, the right decision to get vac- cinated,” said Dr. Howard Njoo, Tam’s deputy chief. “I feel much more comfortable and safe knowing that everyone around me as well is taking the decision to get vac- cinated and we’re all not only protecting ourselves but protecting each other.” Between Aug. 21 and Sept. 18, a little more than one million people received their first dose of vaccine and 52 per cent of them were in the 18-to-39 age bracket. — The Canadian Press Delta moves goalposts on COVID-19 herd immunity LAURA OSMAN MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Premier Kelvin Goertzen announces Friday a $32-million expansion of Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach. A_11_Oct-02-21_FP_01.indd A11 2021-10-01 9:52 PM ;