By The Canadian Press
Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba chief public health officer, leaves after speaking at the province’s latest COVID-19 update at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg Friday, October 30, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
WINNIPEG — Manitoba has released new modelling that shows that three people end up in hospital and one person dies for every 48 cases of COVID-19.
Dr. Brent Roussin, chief public health officer, says if no public health measures had been put in place, there would have been up to 1,055 new infections a day by this Sunday.
Daily cases have been tracking between 300 and 500 recently.
The province brought in tighter restrictions last month as it faced a significant surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths during the pandemic’s second wave.
Chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa says public-health orders have made a difference but hospitals and front-line workers remain under pressure.
Roussin says Manitoba is still at a critical juncture, because test positivity rates remain too high even as daily case counts have decreased slightly.
The five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate on Thursday was 13.1 per cent provincially and 14.9 per cent in Winnipeg.
The restrictions expire next Friday, but Roussin says he expects the majority to stay in place.
