Eight new COVID-19 cases added to Flin Flon district over weekend, including at school

It appears the health district covering Flin Flon got an unwanted Easter gift - more cases of COVID-19.

Eight new cases of the disease were reported in the district Monday and a confirmed public exposure was announced in a cohort at a Flin Flon school.

Eight more COVID-19 cases were added to the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon health district April 5, according to provincial data. The region has now reported 107 total COVID-19 cases, including 96 recoveries. Nine cases of COVID-19 are currently considered active in the district as of press time.

The Flin Flon School Division announced via a form letter April 4 that at least one case has been confirmed at Ecole McIsaac School in the school’s pink cohort, which covers the school’s annex, including classes for Grades 2 and 6 English and French Immersion students and a Grade 5/6 split class. It is unknown if there are multiple cases in the cohort or if the cases were reported in students or staff members.

“Manitoba public health officials have advised of at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 in the school March 22–26 in the pink cohort when the individual(s) may have been infectious. The school is working closely with public health officials and is following their recommendations. Close contacts have been identified and are advised to self-isolate along with their household members,” reads the form letter.

The letter adds that families not contacted and told their children may be possible close contacts are not being considered contacts of the new case or cases. Some students in the pink cohort have begun remote learning instead of returning to in-person class.

Children who develop possible COVID-19 symptoms are asked to be isolated from others - anyone with possible COVID-19 symptoms is asked to present for testing, which is available to the public at Flin Flon General Hospital.

“The school is not permitted to release the name or any identifying information about the confirmed case(s) of COVID-19 to any member of the school, community, or media,” reads the form letter.

The origins of the case or cases at McIsaac are unknown.

Across the north

Throughout northern Manitoba, 43 new cases were reported in the Northern Health Region (NHR) April 5, covering cases found both on April 4 and 5 - no provincial COVID-19 report or data was released Easter Sunday. The Flin Flon district had the second-most new cases of COVID-19 reported Monday, only behind the Island Lake district, where another 10 people were reported as having tested positive for COVID-19.

Other increases of note were found in Thompson/Mystery Lake and Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Moose Lake/Mosakahiken/Easterville/Chemawawin (six new cases were found in each district) along with three in the Pukatawagan-Mathias Colomb district just north of Flin Flon. Pukatawagan, the site of Manitoba’s current worst outbreak of COVID-19, had 340 remaining active cases as of April 5, all of which are tied to a continuing outbreak in the community.

Throughout Manitoba, the province reported 135 cases combined for April 4-5, averaging out to between 67 and 68 cases each day. No new outbreaks of COVID-19 were announced in the NHR April 5 - four ongoing outbreaks are still in effect in the NHR, including outbreaks at the Grassroots Early Learning and Child Care Centre in Thompson and the acute care and psychiatric unit at St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas. Community outbreaks are still considered to be in effect at Pukatagawan/Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and Cross Lake/Pimicikamak Cree Nation.