Manitoba to limit restaurants, gyms and concerts to those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 beginning next week

WINNIPEG -

The mandatory mask requirement is set to return to public spaces in Manitoba this weekend, along with new COVID-19 immunization requirements for people attending sporting events, restaurants and gyms starting in September.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon and Chief Public Health Officer Doctor Brent Roussin announced the changes Friday.

Masks are set to become mandatory in indoor public spaces at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28.

The province also added new immunization requirements for attendees of certain events and activities.

As of Sept. 3, Manitobans must be fully vaccinated to attend:

• indoor and outdoor ticketed sporting events and concerts;
• indoor theatre/dance/symphony events;
• restaurants (indoor and patio dining);
• nightclubs and all other licensed premises;
• casinos, bingo halls and VLT lounges;
• movie theatres;
• fitness centres, gyms and indoor sporting and recreational facilities (excluding youth recreational sport); and
• organized indoor group recreational classes and activities, and indoor recreational businesses.

To attend these events and businesses, the province says Manitobans will have to show their vaccine card or QR code.

Children 11 and under who are not eligible to be vaccinated will be able to attend events and activities with a fully immunized adult.

Employees at these businesses and events who are not fully immunized or cannot provide proof of vaccination will need to undergo regular COVID-19 testing up to three times a week for full-time employees and provide proof of a negative test result before they can work.

Roussin said these new public health orders are aimed at avoiding more health restrictions and lockdown in the coming months, protecting the health-care system from maxing its capacity, while combating the fourth wave.

He said that the majority of new COVID cases in Manitoba continue to be unvaccinated, noting that 26 of Friday’s 31 new cases were not fully immunized.

“We have to protect others in the community and the health-care system from Delta,” Roussin said. “We can see in the jurisdictions around us the rapid climb of cases, which is equating into increase demands on our health-care system.”

Gordon said the emergence of the Delta variant has made the pandemic one of the unimmunized, noting there are currently more than 406,000 Manitobans not yet vaccinated against COVID-19. Of these, nearly 230,000 are kids under age 12.

“It’s about protecting our vulnerable populations, our children. That is my focus is to ensure that everyone comes on side and buys into ensuring that vaccination rates are increased,” Gordon said.

LAMONT SAYS VACCINATION MANDATES OVERDUE

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said in a statement he is pleased with the return of the indoor mask mandate, but said masks never should have been optional given the amount of Manitobans who are unvaccinated.

Additionally, he said keeping businesses open to fully vaccinated Manitobans will increased the incentive to get the shots.

“Being the first province to issue a vaccine passport, these measures could have been implemented earlier,” the statement read.

“In a pandemic with a highly infectious deadly disease, refusing to be being vaccinated is not just a private and personal decision.”