More than 400 Manitoba health-care workers tested positive for COVID-19 last week

A total of 418 health-care workers tested positive for COVID-19 last week in Manitoba nearly seven times the number of cases seen the week before, Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer for Shared Health, told reporters on Thursday.

That number included 96 nurses and nursing students and 49 physicians and physicians in training who tested positive from Dec. 19 to 25, Siragusa said at a technical briefing.

The rest of the cases were among other health-care professionals, including allied health and emergency medical system staff, as well as various support staff who might not regularly interact with patients.

More than half of the past week's cases are believed to be linked to community spread of the illness, and most involved staff who were eligible for their third vaccine dose but hadn't received it yet, she said.

"This serves as a very powerful reminder for everyone, including our health-care staff, to get[your] third dose as soon as you are eligible to do so," Siragusa said.

Fifty-two per cent of eligible Manitobans have only received two vaccine doses, andthe province's website saysonly 19 per cent have gotten a thirdshot.

A spokesperson for Shared Health said 330 of the 418 workers who tested positivehadn't received their third doses, including 232 were eligible to do so. Data for booster doses by specific workforce is unavailable, the spokesperson said.

While marking a significant increase, the latest cases among health-care workersare proportional to the jump in cases Manitoba is seeing overall, Shared Health CEO Adam Topp saidat the briefing.

The update comes as the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant continues to drive a major spike in cases. Earlier Thursday, Manitobaannounced 1,123 new infections the first time that number has cracked four digits.

That jump has also led to an increase in hospitalizations linked to the illness, with unvaccinated or partly immunized people fuelling those numbers, Siragusa said.

As of Thursday, 55 per cent of Manitoba's COVID-19 hospitalizations were people not fully vaccinated. For those in ICUs, the number is 78 per cent.

"The unvaccinated continue to drive the numbers in our care, with people who are not fully vaccinated nine times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID and 26 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU," Siragusa said.

Thursday's update comes a day after the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority sent a memo telling health-care workers with mild COVID-19 symptoms and a negative test result for the illness they can return to work.

Siragusa said the new protocol gives staff more flexibility to react based on their individual situation.

"We see that as a way of supporting the health-care system in a safe way," she said."We are not asking staff to come to work if they feel sick and need to be home."

Visits limited in care homes, hospitals

In another development, officials said they're making a variety of changes to help blunt transmission and free up space in Manitoba's hospitals and intensive care units.

That includes making the "difficult decision" to again limit social visits forpersonal care home residents and hospital patients. While there will be select exceptions, for the most part only essential care providers and designated family caregivers will be allowed to visit those sites, Siragusa said.

"We absolutely recognize the importance of social visits, and we are making this temporary measure while community transmission is so high," she said.

The unvaccinated continue to drive the numbers in our care, with people who are not fully vaccinated nine times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID and 26 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU.- Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officers, Shared Health

Manitoba will also continue to move patients to different hospitals across the province to make room in its acute care sites in Winnipeg, Topp said. To date, 147 patients have been transferred as part of this strategy, including 40 in the past week.

The province has also expanded its virtual COVID-19 outpatient program to three more sites, Topp said.

That programdischarges COVID-19 patients with home-care supports including oxygen and admitted its 400th patient earlier this week.

The hospitals being added the Portage District General Hospital, the Bethesda Regional Health Centre and the Boundary Trails Health Centre are all in the Southern Health region.

There are currently 113 intensive care beds operating in Manitoba, Topp said,with more to open as needed in the coming weeks. As of Thursday morning, there were 96 patients in those beds, Siragusa said.

And more changes could still be on the way if capacity continues to be an issue, Topp said, including once again scaling back elective surgeries in the province.

However, Manitoba hasstill not developed triage protocols to determine who's prioritized if the capacity to care for people runs out, Siragusa said.

"We are focused on developing capacity within the system and that is where we want everyone's focus to be at this time," she said.

"Every Manitoban is important, and it is our goal to provide services to anyone and everyone who requires it."