The provincial government announced a new COVID-19 case in the Northern Health Region, but health officials now say the case may be in a former northern resident now living in Winnipeg.
The new case was announced in the Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake region Sept. 16 during the provincial government's latest news briefing on the disease. When asked about the northern case, Manitoba chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said preliminary information showed the new northern case may not actually be in the north.
"The one case that's reported today in that region, the preliminary information I have right now is that it's a person living in the Winnipeg region - it's not actually going to be an active case in there and we'll be updating that, but that's preliminary information right now," said Roussin in the Sept. 16 briefing.
"Northern and Winnipeg case investigations continue and if a public health risk is identified, the public will be notified," read the Sept. 16 press release from the province.
It would be the second time this week that a COVID-19 case found in northern Manitoba was moved out of the region and the third consecutive case found in the region where the location of the person who tested positive was eventually changed.
A case was announced in the same district Sept. 13, then announced the next day as having been moved out of the NHR to Winnipeg. Despite the change, the provincial COVID-19 dashboard still showed two active cases of COVID-19 within the Shamattawa district as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. Manitoba health officials determine the location assigned to each COVID-19 case by the address on a person's provincial health card. The Reminder has reached out to provincial health officials for more information.
Province-wide, Manitoba reported 23 new cases of the disease, with most based in Winnipeg - 20 in all. Six new cases in Winnipeg have been tied to a case at John Pritchard School in Winnipeg, where a case was first announced earlier this week. Students in several grades at the school have been moved home while health officials investigate and will be doing their learning remotely until the classrooms are deemed safe.
As of Sept. 16, 283 Manitobans have COVID-19 and nine people are in hospital due to the disease, with three in intensive care.
In Saskatchewan, 10 new cases of COVID-19 were announced by the province - seven in Saskatoon, one in the north east region, one in Regina and one with an unknown location. Saskatchewan has 107 active cases of COVID-19, with four people currently hospitalized. Of the 107 people currently with COVID-19, 32 are residents of "communal living settings" - the province's preferred term for Hutterite colonies and similar communities.
Twenty-one cases and counting have now been linked to a social gathering in Saskatoon. The province currently has a maximum limit of 30 people for indoor and outdoor gatherings, provided two-metre social distancing can be followed.
Four cases are still active in the far north east region, including two in the Far North East 2 zone which includes Creighton, Denare Beach and other Saskatchewan communities near Flin Flon.
