Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 25, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMA4 C M Y K PAGE A4 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2022NEWS I COVID-19 PANDEMIC COVID-19 AT A GLANCE Cases: MANITOBA Confirmed: 129,972 Resolved: 119,766 Deaths: 1,668 Active: 8,538 (As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday) CANADA Confirmed: 3,261,911 Resolved: 3,109,144 Deaths: 36,254 Active: 116,513 (As of 8 a.m. Thursday) The latest from Manitoba: ● Manitoba reported five new COVID-19 deaths Thurs- day and 319 new cases confirmed through PCR testing. The five-day test positivity rate provincewide is 14 per cent after 1,428 tests were processed Wednesday. The province is no longer tracking the majority of positive COVID-19 cases because PCR testing is limited and Manitobans using rapid tests are not able to report their results. The province’s online pandemic data showed 524 people in hospital with COVID-19, with 32 of them receiving intensive care. Vaccine eligibility: ● First- and second-dose vaccinations are available for all Manitobans over age five. Third dose shots are now available to all Manitoba adults. Check eligibility criteria and recommended time frames between doses at wfp. to/eligibility. Appointments can be booked online at wfp.to/bookvaccine or by calling 1-844-626-8222. The latest from elsewhere: ● Health Canada authorized a new COVID-19 vaccine Thursday that it touted as the first greenlit shot to be developed by a Canadian company and the first to be made with plant-based technology. Known as Covifenz, it was developed by Medicago, a biotech company based in Quebec City. Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser at Health Canada, said the active ingredients consist of particles that “mimic the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19.” That allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response. ● Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe signed an order-in- council on Wednesday to extend the province’s state of emergency order “to address the COVID-19 public health emergency.” The order will renew Monday, the same day Saskatchewan is to lift all remaining pandemic restrictions, including an indoor mask mandate and the requirement to self-isolate after testing positive. ● Hong Kong launched a vaccination requirement to enter shopping malls, restaurants and a host of other places on Thursday as it battles an expanding Omicron outbreak and tries to overcome vaccine hesitancy in parts of its population. Everyone aged 12 and over must have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter these places. Beginning April 30, those aged 18 and above will be required to have two doses. Booster shots will be required for some starting June 30. Hong Kong is struggling to impose a zero-COVID strategy patterned on the tough measures mainland China has imple- mented. A sharp rise in cases driven by the Omicron variant has left the city short of the hospital beds and isolation rooms. Mainland experts have been brought in to help put up temporary testing facilities and new isolation wards to handle a mass testing of the entire population of 7.4 million people next month, similar to what China does in cities hit with even small outbreaks. Quote: “If we want to participate in the activities we love at Carnival, we can’t let our guard down. COVID is not over yet, and we need to use every tool at our disposal to prevent a repeat of the tragedies of Mardi Gras 2020” — Dr. Jennifer Avegno, health director of New Orleans, as the city is handing out rapid COVID-19 tests as parade favours to avoid a surge of infec- tions UNVACCINATED teachers, educa- tional assistants and other school em- ployees will no longer have to undergo frequent testing before their shifts as of Tuesday. The province is ending COVID-19 proof of immunization and testing re- quirements for designated public-sec- tor employees, including front-line workers in education, child care and health care as of March 1. The public health order, which re- quired employees to test negative on a rapid test as many as three times per week to report to work, has been in place since Oct. 18. “We’ve always been guided by pub- lic health orders. It doesn’t change the fact that (approximately) 96 per cent of teachers are vaccinated, and it doesn’t, of course, undo that. That fact alone continues to make our schools safe working environments,” said James Bedford, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society. Bedford acknowledged there have been “difficult situations” in schools arising from tensions between vacci- nated and unvacci- nated employees, but the union leader said there is widespread understanding that the public health or- der allowed people to make a choice — vac- cination or ongoing testing — to protect school communities. Not long after the or- der came into effect, the province in- dicated nearly 11 per cent of the K-12 workforce was undergoing frequent testing. In the Winnipeg School Division — the largest in Manitoba — 161 staff members have still not shown their em- ployer a vaccine card and thus, are sub- ject to the current order. Four months ago, that figure was around 250. Lauren Hope, a parent in Winnipeg who co-founded Safe September MB, is skeptical about Manitoba’s plans to remove all public health mandates by March 15. Hope said the ableist blue- print will particularly affect people with disabilities, anyone who has a compromised immune system, and the families of young children who are inel- igible for vaccination. “It’s premature, it’s short-sighted and again, it’s a political decision and not one based on science,” said Hope, who has advocated for precautions in schools to limit transmission since Au- gust 2020. “The doctors of Manitoba continue to say this is not only prema- ture, but too much, too soon.” The mother of two indicated she considers public health protocols to be “protections” rather than “restric- tions.” “I honestly felt more safe around stu- dents and fellow staff knowing I was testing negative,” said one unvaccinat- ed educator, who works in a division just outside of Winnipeg. The teacher, who agreed to an inter- view on the condition of anonymity be- cause of concerns about public hostility towards people who have chosen not to get immunized, has been hesitant to get a jab, citing the fact he is healthy, po- tential side-effects and the fact vacci- nated people can still spread the virus if they become infected. COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective at preventing most infectious, as well as severe illness, but people who get breakthrough infections can still be contagious. The unvaccinated teacher said he has appreciated the fact he can undergo testing to keep his job. He said he would have no problem continuing regular test- ing for his personal peace of mind, but thinks all K-12 employees should be test- ed, regardless of immunization status. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Testing for unvaxxed school staff to end Tuesday MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER James Bedford TWO cases of the COVID-19 BA.2 vari- ant have so far been detected in Man- itoba. The variant is a sub-type of the Omi- cron variant, and early research shows it is more contagious than other Omi- cron strains, but more research needs to be conducted to understand how it could affect transmission and reinfec- tion rates. Officials confirmed two cases have been found here after chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said during a news conference Thurs- day that there hasn’t been “significant” BA.2 transmission. “We have not seen significant lev- els of transmission in Manitoba at this point. There’s suggestion that this is more transmissible than the original strain of Omicron, not seeing a lot of evidence regarding that it’s more se- vere, so we’re continuing to follow these numbers. We’re still sequencing a sig- nificant proportion of our cases, we just haven’t seen a lot of BA.2 at this point,” Roussin said. The first Manitoba case of BA.2 was confirmed Feb. 8 and the second was detected this week, the province said. A government spokesperson did not an- swer questions about what proportion of positive COVID-19 test results are being sequenced to check for BA.2 or other emerging variants of concern, or how the province can be confident in its efforts to track emerging variants when more accurate molecular-level PCR testing is so limited in Manitoba. “The province has always had a ro- bust system to detect variants utilizing samples from across the province to ensure that the introduction of a new variant is detected and communicated to public health,” the spokesperson said. Only 1,428 PCR tests were conducted in Manitoba Wednesday, and the prov- ince doesn’t plan to make the tests more widely available to the public. Rap- id-test results aren’t included in official case counts, so sequencing a proportion of PCR test results is the only way for the province to track the presence of COVID-19 variants. Roussin said Thursday that the goal now is to test for “clinical purposes,” which involves offering PCR tests to hospitalized patients and those at high- est risk of severe infections. The World Health Organization has said BA.2 should still be considered a variant of concern. Transmission of BA.2 is growing, but overall, COVID-19 cases are still declining around the world. “WHO will continue to closely moni- tor the BA.2 lineage as part of Omicron and requests countries to continue to be vigilant, to monitor and report sequenc- es, as well as to conduct independent and comparative analyses of the differ- ent Omicron sublineages,” it said in a statement Tuesday. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Two cases of more-contagious Omicron variant confirmed here KATIE MAY T HE province’s plan to scrap the rule requiring vaccination or regular COVID-19 testing for dir- ect care workers puts vulnerable Mani- tobans and the health-care system at risk, critics say. On Thursday, Health Minister Au- drey Gordon announced, in addition to dropping provincial vaccination requirements March 1, direct care health-care workers across the prov- ince and designated public-sector em- ployees (including teachers and child care workers) won’t have to be vacci- nated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing. “We continue to see positive trends throughout the province,” Gordon said, noting hospitalizations and ICU admis- sions are on a downward trajectory. “Now is the time to prepare for a re- turn to normal,” the minister said at a news conference with chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin and David Matear, incident commander for Manitoba’s COVID-19 response. “Together, we can look forward to a co-ordinated and cautious plan to re- cover from the intense demands that COVID-19 has placed on our health- care system.” Gordon said a memo from the COVID-19 incident command, the heads of all health regions and service delivery organizations was being sent Thursday to employees advising them the requirement to be fully vaxxed or tested was being lifted, as March 1. “I was furious when I saw that,” said critical care physician Dr. Doug Eyolfson. “There’s no reason to be do- ing this. “We have vulnerable populations in our health-care system — young children, who are too young to be vac- cinated, people with chronic medical conditions, the elderly, people who are immuno-compromised, people on che- motherapy. These people are still at tremendous risk if exposed to COVID and the province has basically just said, essentially, ‘You’re on your own.’” Social epidemiologist Souradet Shaw questioned the decision and its timing. “I would think that those in health- care settings would be the exact popu- lation we’d consider vulnerable, and to the extent possible, provide the most protection to,” said Shaw, with the de- partment of community health sciences at the University of Manitoba. It might have been prudent to wait and see what the impacts of lifting vac- cination and mask requirements would be before lifting protections for vulner- able people, he said. Shaw also noted Manitoba’s uptake of third (booster) doses of the vaccine is less than optimal and there are “blind spots” in the province’s COVID-19 sur- veillance. “So even if there is an argument to be made for lifting these protections, I think the timing of it is another issue altogether.” Roussin said officials have the “con- fidence to continue on our plan to loos- en restrictions” because of projections that show declining hospitalizations and intensive-care admissions into next month. Provincial proof-of-vaccination re- quirements end March 1, and mask use in indoor public spaces will no longer be mandatory, as of March 15. Roussin presented updated modelling Thursday showing key COVID-19 in- dicators are on a downward trajectory after having peaked in January. He acknowledged there are “different perspectives” on the public health re- strictions that have been in place for a long time and transitioning out of them “will be a difficult time for many.” “We know this is going to be a difficult time, but as we see from that modelling, we are trending in that right direction and we’ll continue to watch those num- bers very closely,” Roussin said. So will Manitoba nurses, wary of another pandemic wave swamping the health-care system. “We cannot be in a position where our ICUs and emergency departments and hospital beds are overflowing again,” Manitoba Nurses Union president Dar- lene Jackson said Thursday. If a new COVID-19 variant drives up hospital admissions, the province can’t dither, she added. “This government really has to be proactive and act very quickly to put those restrictions back in place.” Meanwhile, nurses who haven’t been working because of proof of vaccination or rapid-test requirement will be wel- comed back March 1, she said. “We are in a critical nursing shortage so having as many nurses in the system as possi- ble is something we’re advocating for all the time.” However, the percentage of workers who chose unpaid leave rather than un- dergoing regular rapid tests or provid- ing proof of vaccination is so small al- lowing them to return to work now with vulnerable people, when COVID-19 infection rates remain high, makes no sense, Eyolfson countered. “It has not been a significant burden to staffing levels,” the doctor said. “So what earthly reason is there for doing this?” As of Monday, 119 direct care work- ers were on unpaid leave as a result of the public health order to either be vaxxed or tested, and 1,500 who were working required regular rapid testing, Shared Health said. Lifting those requirements for work- ers puts the most vulnerable Manito- bans at risk, opposition members say. “I think it’s a mistake,” said NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara (Union Station), a former nurse. “It shows the lack of this government’s willingness to prioritize the folks in our communities who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.” “If you’re going to get rid of restric- tions, the last thing you should be doing is telling people they don’t need to be vaccinated,” said Liberal Leader Dou- gald Lamont. “We still have half of Manitobans who don’t have a third shot,” he said refer- ring to the 570,690 who’ve received a COVID-19 booster, versus 503,352 with two doses, and 58,272 with just one. The number of COVID-positive ICU patients in Manitoba has declined 40 per cent since Feb. 1, and fell 16 per cent in the past week, said Matear. The COVID-19 response incident command- er said ICU capacity remains at 124 beds; before the pandemic, it was 72. As pandemic pressures ease, the 500 provincial health-care employees who’ve been redeployed across the sys- tem will be returning to their pre-pan- demic work “as soon as we’re operation- ally able,” Matear said. “For the immediate future, the health system’s focus will be on both maintain- ing capacity and supporting recovery.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Critics furious at March 1 scrapping of vaccination-or-testing mandate CAROL SANDERS AND KATIE MAY Requirement dropped for designated public workers MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Brent Roussin, onscreen Thursday between Health Minister Audrey Gordon and COVID-response incident commander David Matear, says officials have ‘confidence to continue on our plan.’ A_04_Feb-25-22_FP_01.indd 4 2022-02-24 9:21 PM ;