Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 8, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba «>PAGE A3 Winnipeg Free PressCOVID-19 PANDEMIC A3 TUESDAY MARCH8,2022 ASSOCIATE EDITOR NEWS: STACEYTHIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 • CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA • WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM COVID-19 ATAGLANCE Cases: MANITOBA Confirmed: 131,948 Resolved: 122,677 Deaths: 1,700 Active: 7,571 (Asof 12:30 p.m. Monday) CANADA Confirmed: 3,323,338 Resolved: 3,173,048 Deaths: 36,986 Active: 113,304 (As ofSa.m.Monday)The latest from Manitoba: • Manitoba announced an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday and 10 additional deaths. According to the government's pandemic dashboard, 434 people with COVID-19 were in hospital, including 27 in intensive care.That'san increase of14COVID-related hospitalizations and an increase offive ICU admissions since Friday, when numbers were last updated. There were 88 new cases confirmed through PCR testing on Monday. The test positivity rate provincewide is 14.7 per cent.Vaccine eligibility: • First- and second-dose vaccinations are available for all Manitobans over five years ofage. 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: • The official global death toll from COVID-19 has passed six million. It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and one million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit five million at the end of October. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full. • Moderna signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya's government on Monday for the drug-maker's first mRNA vaccine-manufacturing facility in Africa, the company said. The goal is to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines a year for the African continent, Moderna said in a statement. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the huge need for vaccine manufacturing on the African continent, which remains the least-vaccinated region in the world against the coronavirus. • A Georgia man was sentenced to three years in prison after illegally obtaining a coronavirus relief loan and using more than US$57,000 of the moneyto buy a collectable Pokemon card, authorities said Monday. Vinath Oudomsine of Dublin, Ga., agreed to forfeit the costly trading card, which featured the Pokemon character Charizard, as part of a plea agreement. Oudomsine, 31, pleaded guilty in October to a single count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said in a legal filing that he submitted false information to the U.S. Small Business Administration last year when applying foraCOVID-19 relief loan for an "entertainment services" business he claimed to own.Quote: "Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause ofdeath." — Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the Our Worldin Data portal, reflects on worldwide coronavirus death figures passing the six-million mark Seven Oaks to follow guidance but recommend use;other divisions yet to decideMask call left to school boards MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCALJOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER Manitoba school boards will have the final say about whether masks are required or recommended in their local K-12 classrooms come March 15. Late last week, the education department informed division leaders COVID-19 mandates in schools will soon disappear, in line with the rest of society, “to start to return to normal.” Education Minister Wayne Ewasko was not made available for an interview on the subject Monday. “(The province) strongly recommends school and child-care facility officials follow the guidance of the chief provincial public health officer, including removing mask mandates in indoor settings as the public health focus shifts to individual risk assessment,” Ewasko said in a prepared statement. At the same time, he acknowledged school boards are made up of elected officials. “Trustees are charged with decision making that addresses their local needs, including if they choose to continue requiring the use of masks.” Seven Oaks School Division administration has informed families it is following public health guidance and in turn, face coverings will be recommended in its north Winnipeg schools, as of next week. “Individual staff, students and families will now make their own choices on masks. We need to respect one another’s choices,” superintendent Brian O’Leary wrote in a community update Monday. O’Leary noted the division will ask staff and students with flu-like symp toms to remain home, maintain cohorts in elementary schools, and distribute masks and rapid antigen tests to community members, among other limited pandemic measures, for the foreseeable future. River East Transcona, Louis Riel, and St. James-Assiniboia leaders indicated they are all awaiting a meeting scheduled with provincial officials this week before confirming plans. Spokespeople for Winnipeg and Pembina Trails said board deliberations must take place before either releases details. The Manitoba Teachers’ Society has made clear its stance: it is premature to lift mask requirements in schools. “Let’s think about this logically, from the perspective of the school environment and working with children. It’s easy to loosen restrictions — and I sympathize greatly with those who struggle greatly with wearing a face mask — but it’s way more difficult to (reinstate rules),” said MTS president James Bedford. Bedford said the union’s preference is masks remain universal requirements. Winnipeg mother Lindsay McDonald, who indicated her kindergartener is not bothered by masking in the slightest, echoed those sentiments Monday. McDonald said she feels abandoned by the province, given it is prioritizing “so-called freedom” over the lives of immunocompromised Manitobans like herself. She is hopeful LRSD will continue going above and beyond provincial measures, as it has done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. (LRSD ensured two metres of distancing was in place between all students throughout 2020-21. The division Grade 12 Sisler High students Francheska Reyes(left) and Kayla Johnston, expressed comfort with mask use continuing at the school. JOHN WOODS/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS was also a leader in establishing vaccine requirements and promoting outdoor education with tents throughout the pandemic.) “(Masking) is something easy we can do as a precaution to lower risk,” said McDonald. “It’s sad that my five-year-old recognizes the importance of wearing a mask but our government doesn’t.” While the loosening of restrictions is raising some community members’ anxiety levels, others are celebrating them. “We are completely against them to start with_ I don’t think we will be wearing them anywhere (after March 15),” said Christina Kitson, a mother of three young boys — the eldest of whom attends Grade 1 in Sunrise School Division. Kitson said her first grader has been complaining about headaches, owing to the mask he wears to school. Since her youngest child was born during the pandemic, the mother from Lac du Bonnet added she worries his facial recognition and speech skills may be delayed because of widespread masking. Meantime, the overwhelming majority of students who streamed out of Sisler High School in Winnipeg on Monday afternoon, all donned masks as they walked to cars, bus stops and doorsteps. “It’s like second nature to me now,” said Grade 12 student Kayla Johnston, who plans to continue masking indefinitely. Francheska Reyes, 17, said she is con cerned the mandate is being lifted too quickly and in turn, cases will spike and disrupt Class of 2022 graduation ceremonies. For Grade 11 student Devon Bolton, however, an end to mandatory masking in class cannot come soon enough. “It’s really uncomfortable to wear for six hours a day in class, everywhere in the halls,” said the 16-year-old. Devon said he will continue wearing a face covering in public places outside school to protect the elderly and young children who remain ineligible for vaccination, but he noted his classmates are primarily healthy teenagers. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie NDP presses health minister on lack of backlog task force progress update CAROLSANDERS THE Opposition NDP has accused Health Minister Audrey Gordon of deliberately misleading the house. On March 3, Gordon told the Manitoba legislature the province’s surgical and diagnostic backlog task force would be providing an update the following day. “There was no update,” said NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara, who raised the issue as a matter of privilege in the house Monday. There were no government officials announcing detailed task force plans and responding to media questions March 4. Instead, a summary of the task force’s progress since its last update Jan. 19 was posted on a provincial government website in the late afternoon. No new initiatives were announced. Asagwara said Gordon broke the rules of the house, by telling members during question period March 3 a task force update was planned for the next day, then didn’t deliver one. The NDP MLA asked the health minister apologize to the house, and the “failure of the government to set a deadline to clear the backlog be moved to a committee for immediate consideration.” Speaker Myrna Driedger said she would take the matter under advisement. On March 4, a spokesman for Gordon said the PC government had to reconsider what information it could announce, because of Election Financing Act rules governing communication during the lead-up to the Fort Whyte byelection. The legislation limits government advertising and funding announcements during an election period. Gordon did, however, tell the house Monday that Manitobans have started getting spinal surgeries at a Sanford Health facility in Fargo, N.D. In a statement later in the day, the health minister said an agreement with Sanford provides for a pilot phase, where a small number of Manitoba patients will receive care. “This process will enable both organizations to get the patient referrals and transitions in place so that this can be a safe and effective care experience,” the statement said. The diagnostic and surgical recovery task force will provide updates on patient volumes and costs as part of future briefings, it said. During question period, NDP Leader Wab Ki-new pressed Premier Heather Stefanson to announce a date for when the surgical and diagnostic backlog in Manitoba would be cleared. Stefanson wouldn’t commit to a date. She said her government knows the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been very hard for residents, but the situation is not unique to Manitoba. Neither Stefanson nor Gordon spoke to reporters after question period. Kinew said in a scrum Manitobans waiting for surgeries and procedures deserve to know what the backlog task force is doing. “I think what we saw last Friday was a sad example of Manitoba’s government using this blackout as an excuse to cover up for its own failings when it comes to health care,” the NDP leader said. Government house leader Kelvin Goertzen told reporters abiding by election blackout rules is a balancing act. “The challenge between trying to make sure an election is fair and seen to be fair and that government isn’t using the power of government to tip the scales of an election one way or another — and your desire and the public’s desire for information — that’s never going to land in a perfect place,” said Goertzen, who is also the justice minister. “There was a feeling there was new programming put in place that might run afoul of this.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Complete Appearance RetOndHioning Package & & & $350 All these services plus complete detailing inside and oat Winter Wash Services Hand wash && dry, vacuum && clean Express detailing Hand polish and cleaning $39 * $99 ’ $149 ’ WHILE YOU WAIT ( 1-2 HOURS) • FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE. ! 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