Manitoba meets reopening vaccine target, changes to health orders coming Wednesday
Manitoba has reached its first stage reopening criteria a week early, and the province's top doctor hinted that more information on health order changes would be coming on Wednesday.
Manitoba's reopening plan is linked to first and second-dose vaccination targets, with some restrictions loosening by Canada Day if 70 per cent of all Manitobans 12 and over have received their first shot, and 25 per cent have received their second shot.
As of Monday, 71.2 per cent of Manitobans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 25.4 per cent have received two doses, meeting the reopening criteria.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, acknowledged the province meeting its target at a news conference Monday afternoon.
"So yes, we've met those vaccine targets. So hats off to the vaccine task force and Manitobans for getting their shots, but that's only one thing we're considering when looking at our reopening plans.”
Roussin said there are still other factors to consider despite declining cases and increased vaccination rates.
"As cases do drop, we still have that strain on the health-care system, so we have to be mindful of that," he said. "We've been talking all along that whether its vaccine rates, test positivity, hospital admissions, we don't just look at one indicator when taking these things into consideration."
When pressured for more details about reopening, Roussin said more information will be coming on Wednesday.
"We have a lot of things we are still considering at this point," said Roussin. "We haven't fully decided. We haven't made that decision yet on what the specifics will be."
The province may have met its first vaccine target, but a potential shortage of Pfizer doses could derail the vaccination rate in the future since it is the only one currently approved for youth.
"Vaccine supply has always been our rate-limiting step," said Roussin. "We've met our target for our first stage of reopening plans now, and as we move forward, we are going to work with whatever vaccine we can to meet our targets."
OTHER PROVINCES REOPENING
Other prairie provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan have already announced reopening plans. Alberta plans to lift all current public health restrictions on July 1, while Saskatchewan will lift them on July 11. Despite this, Roussin said he feels no pressure to speed up Manitoba's plan.
"We are looking at our own epidemiology. I think it is certainly relevant, though," Roussin said. "We were late to the third wave, so we are weeks behind them coming out of the third wave."
Roussin said dealing with the third wave later gives the province a chance to see how other province's plans work.
"We're going to be watching very closely the successes they have with their reopening plans and if there is any increased transmission or any issues with the Delta variant," he said.
Roussin said Manitoba's reopening plan does account for the rising Delta variant since the plan was created later than other provinces.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.