No more COVID-19 contact tracing in Manitoba; province asks Manitobans to notify their own close contacts

Manitoba public health is no longer notifying people if they have been identified as a close contact to a positive COVID-19 case, leaving it up to Manitobans to do their own contact tracing.

On the Province of Manitoba website, public health said, in most situations, health officials will not notify close contacts to people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

"Confirmed COVID-19 cases will be asked to notify their contacts," the website reads.

"In some settings, such as schools, personal care homes, childcare facilities, shelters, and health care facilities, public health officials will work with the facility to notify close contacts."

The change is not sitting well with Arthur Schafer, the founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.

"Contact tracing is a skillful job for which you have to be well trained and part of the training consists in knowing how best to protect individual privacy and confidentially," Schafer said in an interview with CTV's Renee Rodgers.

"The decision by the Manitoba government to leave contact tracing to people who have been diagnosed with COVID is just about the most mind-bogglingly stupid decision of a government that's made a whole series of really dubious questionable decisions."

The provincial website said this change is due to the Omicron variant of concern, which has now been identified in Manitoba.

"Manitoba is anticipating a surge in COVID-19 cases similar to that seen in other countries and provinces," the website reads.

"This increase in cases and contacts is expected to exceed public health contact notification resources."

Schafer said contact tracing is a critical tool of public health and is concerned not all who test positive for COVID-19 will properly inform all their close contacts.

"This is a really skillful task and the Government of Manitoba is just dropping the ball at the most critical moment," he said.

"You might as well just not have any contact tracing."

The provincial website does provide some instructions on how people should inform their close contacts, including what to tell close contacts.

A spokesperson for the province said voluntarily disclosing personal health information regarding a COVID diagnosis does not violate the PHIA (Personal Health Information Act).