Manitoba ending all COVID-19 restrictions by March 15

Manitoba has announced it is speeding up the relaxing of public health orders in the province, with a plan to have all orders in the province, including proof of vaccination requirements and the mask mandate, removed by March 15.

Premier Heather Stefanson and Dr. Brent Roussin made the announcement Friday morning, noting the first stage of lifting restrictions will take place on Feb. 15.

Calling the last two years “challenging,” Stefanson said the province is “offering hope” to Manitobans waiting a long time for an end to pandemic restrictions.

“Manitobans have put their lives on hold, and it’s time that we give them their lives back,” she said.

Roussin said based on provincial data, Omicron has peaked in the province and is beginning to subside.

“Just like many times in this pandemic, we’ve had to shift our response based on what we’re seeing with the virus,” he said. “As a result of what we’re seeing now, with the trends and the modelling, we are in a very important transitional phase for the COVID-19 response here.”

Provincial data was not provided during the press conference, but was uploaded online later Friday. It can be found below.

WHAT IS CHANGING?

Starting Feb. 15, the province will move to the yellow, or caution level, on the pandemic response system. This will eliminate capacity limits in venues such as restaurants, licensed premises, entertainment venues, indoor and outdoor sporting events and gatherings at private residences.

The province said capacity limits will be removed for outdoor public gatherings, but will be limited to 50 people indoors unless proof of vaccination is required.

“Young people ages 12 to 17 participating in indoor sports and recreation will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination or recent testing,” the province said in a release.

In addition, close contacts of a person who tests positive for COVID-19 will no longer be required to self-isolate starting on Feb. 15. Self-isolation will be recommended for people who live in a household with others who have symptoms or tested positive for COVID-19, but it will no longer be required.

Roussin said people who test positive for COVID-19 still need to self-isolate.

VACCINE CARD PROGRAM, MASK MANDATES ENDING IN MARCH

The province also released a timeline for removing proof of vaccination requirements for places. According to a release, requirements will be removed March 1 in most settings.

“In some settings, such as personal care homes, shelters, and health-care facilities, public health officials have continued to work with facilities to notify close contacts. Effective March 8, this will no longer occur,” the province said in a release.

Mask requirements will be lifted effective March 15.

Roussin said people should still consider wearing a mask indoors when they cannot physically distance, but it will no longer be required after March 15.

When asked if the decision was political or a response to a protest against mandates that has been outside the Manitoba Legislature for one week, Stefanson said, “Not at all.”

“This has been ongoing,” she said. “Dr. Roussin said weeks ago that we were looking at probably the spring where we would be removing all of the restrictions, and that was before protesters were out in front of the Legislature.”

PREMIER 'GIVING IN' TO PROTESTERS: NDP

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew, while noting many Manitobans will welcome the news on restrictions, disagreed with Stefanson’s comment that the decision wasn’t political.

“This is Premier Heather Stefanson giving in to the convoy,” he said. “This is capitulation.”

Kinew added he was also concerned that data on why the province is speeding up the lifting of restrictions was not released.

“The fact that the premier would not share data, or really any proof, for the rationale as to why she’s making the announcement today to cause a great concern and lead to skepticism for the motivation of that announcement,” he said.