All is calm on the northern front for COVID-19 Thursday - 36 new cases in Manitoba, but none in the north.
Manitoba health officials announced 36 new cases of the disease Oct. 1, centring mostly around Winnipeg, where 28 cases were announced. The province has now passed 2,000 total cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic, now counting a total of 2,029 cases total. Of those, 621 cases are still active. Fifteen people are in hospital with COVID-19, with seven of those people in ICU.
Two possible exposures in Carberry were announced Thursday - one at Carberry Collegiate and another at a local Subway. No close contacts have been identified in the new case at the school, which while being the second to be found at this school this week, is thought to have been contracted outside the school.
Within the north, cases remain the same as they were Sept. 30 - eight active cases in Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake, two in Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/God's River/God's Lake and one each in the Island Lake and Bay Line districts. One case remains in an "unknown district" - a health investigation into the case is still ongoing.
The federal COVID Alert app is now online in Manitoba. The new app will provide anyone who downloads it instant alerts if the user has been near someone who has tested positive for the disease. People who test positive for COVID-19 will be given a one-time pass key to type into the app, which will buzz into any phones that have been located near the user's phone during a time where they may have been contagious. The app used Bluetooth to detect when user's phones are near each other and doesn't collect a user's personal data, health information, location, name, address or contacts.
