The Manitoba government says it is considering making “modest changes” to current COVID-19 public health orders, including allowing all retail stores to reopen and eliminating the current list of items not allowed to be sold in stores.
The province’s current set of public health orders, which includes tight restrictions on non-essential store openings and public gatherings, have been in place since mid-November and are set to expire Friday at midnight.
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On Tuesday the province released a list of changes to the orders it says it is considering.
“Manitobans deserve to be proud — it is because of their willingness and dedication to follow the public health orders to protect their loved ones and their community that we have been able to bend our COVID curve down, and keep it down,” said Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister in a government release.
“While there is much reason for optimism with that progress, we must not let our guard down, which is why we are taking a cautious approach to safely restoring our services and activities in Manitoba.”
Under the possible change to retail restrictions the province says current rules reducing occupancy to 25 per cent with a maximum of 250 would remain in place.
Other changes being considered include:
- two additional people (family or friends) to visit a household;
- outdoor visits of up to five people plus members of a household on outdoor private property;
- funerals to have up to 10 people in addition to the officiant;
- non-regulated health services, such as podiatrists and reflexologists, to reopen with adequate physical distancing and requirements to collect information for contact tracing purposes; and
- barber shops and hair stylists to reopen at 25 per cent capacity with adequate physical distancing and requirements to collect information for contact tracing purposes.
In a government release Manitoba’s chief public health officer said case counts are too high in the Northern Health region, and any of the changes being considered would likely only apply to communities in the Winnipeg, Southern Health, Interlake–Eastern and Prairie Mountain Health regions.
Province Considers Modest Changes to Household Gatherings, Retail and Personal and Health Services Restrictions https://t.co/jD52V6vELT pic.twitter.com/zUPSoNiwB6
— Manitoba Gov News (@MBGovNews) January 19, 2021
“As we look at ways to gradually ease restrictions on the way Manitobans socialize and do business, we must always consider the needs of our health-care system and our vulnerable communities,” said Roussin.
“We cannot lose sight of the progress we have made over the last 10 weeks, which is why it is crucial that Manitobans continue to follow the fundamentals as we move forward through this pandemic.”
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Roussin said a decision on what the final public health orders will look like will be announced later this week.
Since March Manitoba has reported 27,629 COVID-19 cases, and 773 people who contracted the virus have died.
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Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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