How Manitobans should prepare for another holiday season during the pandemic

WINNIPEG -

Christmas is just a month away and Manitobans are once again being told to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, said on Wednesday that health officials will have more details when Christmas is closer but reminded people the fundamentals are the best way to have a safe holiday.

"The best way to be able to get back to these types of things is to be vaccinated," said Roussin. "Whether you are vaccinated or not, we need to follow those fundamentals. We need to ensure we are staying home when ill, washing our hands, trying to have some of that distancing."

He said at the end of the day there is still risk for people and big events shouldn't be held this year, especially if there are unvaccinated people attending.

"We really want to ensure we get a large uptake of the vaccine. We have the new eligibility cohort here, which we see already great enthusiasm. Because we really want to see our trends declining going into that holiday season, where we know there is going to be a lot of gathering taking place."

To date, 87.5 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 84.9 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Manitoba had 147 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, bringing the active case count to 1,537. The province also recorded three deaths pushing the death toll to 1,299.