COVID infections and hospitalizations rose during the first week of May, according to the provincial government’s respiratory surveillance report for the period April 30 to May 6 (reporting Week 18).
There were 105 new COVID infections detected by PCR testing. There were 96 new infections reported the previous week. Provincial COVID data are underestimates of the true number of infections as the government restricts access to PCR testing. Rapid antigen tests aren’t tracked.
Forty-eight people were hospitalized with COVID including 10 patients admitted to the intensive care unit in Week 18. There were 39 people hospitalized the previous week with two people admitted to the ICU.
Two people died from COVID in Week 18. There were six deaths reported in Week 17 and 10 deaths the week before that.
Numbers are calculated using comparisons of total outcome data between the current and the previous week’s report.
Manitoba’s COVID death toll is currently 2,499 according to the federal government’s COVID webpage as of April 29. Canada’s death toll has reached 52,231.
Wastewater surveillance data for Winnipeg and Brandon to April 25 indicates sustained COVID activity, states the Week 18 report. The Week 17 report provided wastewater data up to the same date, April 25, so it’s unclear whether that activity changed in Week 18.
There were four new cases of influenza A and five new cases of influenza B reported in Week 18. There were four new hospitalizations for influenza but no deaths. There were two and five new cases, respectively, reported the week before, with no hospitalizations and deaths.
There were 10 new cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Week 18. There were 15 cases the week before.
Other health news:
- There were over 2.7 million new COVID cases and over 17,000 new deaths from the virus reported worldwide over the period April 10 to May 7, according to the World Health Organization’s epidemiological update published May 11.In the Americas region (North, Central and South America), XBB.1.5 is the most prevalent COVID omicron subvariant followed by XBB.1 and XBB.1.16.
A few recent studies on vaccine effectiveness of monovalent and bivalent (targeting two virus strains) COVID vaccines show there is either marginal vaccine effectiveness of the bivalent vaccine or no difference.
Two studies from the U.K. and France have shown “marginal (approximately 10%) higher VE [vaccine effectiveness] for bivalent vaccines against Omicron infection” while one study from Canada showed “no difference in VE between monovalent and bivalent vaccines against hospitalization,” states the epidemiological report.
- The Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority reported on May 8 a gastrointestinal outbreak at the Betel Personal Care Home in Gimli. The COVID outbreaks at Red River Place PCH in Selkirk (reported May 1) and Tudor House PCH in Selkirk (reported April 28) are ongoing, according to the health authority’s outbreak webpage (viewed May 14).
- Manitoba’s Shared Health organization said 55 nurses have been hired in the provincial government’s nursing float pool since it was formed last year, and that they’re working shifts in rural and northern communities.“Our government is healing health care by bolstering the health-care system’s workforce and improving patient care and staff well-being,” said health minister Audrey Gordon in a May 9 statement on Shared Health’s website.
The float pool is lessening the reliance on overtime and agency nursing, she added.
- The NDP released figures last week showing the provincial Conservative government cancelled over 2,600 surgeries at Winnipeg facilities over the course of more than a year.Based on the results of a freedom of information request, the NDP said it found 2,623 surgeries had been cancelled between November 2021 and January 2023.
Of those cancelled procedures, 576 were orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee surgeries. Grace Hospital had the highest number of cancelled obstetrical surgeries with 247. The Pan Am Clinic had 151 cancelled surgeries, Concordia Hospital had 147 and the Health Sciences Centre had 31.
“Every cancelled surgery is a person waiting in pain and discomfort for longer. Brian Pallister created a staffing crisis in our hospitals and Premier Stefanson has made it even worse. Their cuts have been devastating to our healthcare system,” said NDP leader Wab Kinew in a statement. “Manitobans deserve timely access to healthcare, including surgeries. It’s time for real leadership that will put the healthcare needs of Manitobans first.”
