Manitoba officials say they will be releasing their exact plans for when the second phase of reopening the economy will come into effect later this week.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief provincial health officer, made the announcement during a testing update on May 25. No Manitobans are in hospital with the virus, and the province is only tracking 17 active cases.
“A lot of the results from phase one were largely positive,” Roussin said.
“We’re going to start compiling that feedback, and hoping this week we’ll announce a firm date for when [phase two] can start.”
The proposed second phase of reopening includes some loosening of the northern travel ban, allowing direct travel to campgrounds and lodges.
“With these orders, we don’t want to go back and forth,” Roussin said.
“We want to keep progress reopening. We don’t want to have to draw it back should we go too quick.”
On Friday, the province announced it has begun testing asymptomatic people. Roussin said testing asymptomatic people is a low priority.
“What I’m concerned about is having the ability to ramp up our testing, and we do have that capacity,” he said.
“I’m concerned we have the ability to test all symptomatic manitobans. We don’t have restrictions on who can be tested if you’re symptomatic, and we have a low test-positivity rate. Those are the things I’m watching really closely.”
Roussin said the value of any negative asymptomatic test is low, because symptoms could develop days later, leading to a positive test.
Any positive asymptomatic test will be treated the same way as other positive tests, including extensive contact tracing. Manitoba has processed nearly 40,000 tests for COVID-19.
Officials also announced a new mental health hotline, aimed to assist Manitobans with disabilities and their caregivers through the pandemic. The hotline, developed by the St. Amant Centre, can be reached outside of Winnipeg toll-free at 1-877-858-7076.
