COVID-19

A multi-million dollar announcement for COVID-19 support and outreach Friday morning is being supported by Indigenous leaders.

Standing in Winnipeg in Thunderbird House, a large group of leaders announce further expansions to urban Indigenous-led vaccine clinics and outreach as part of a $2,795,000 commitment from the Government of Manitoba.

The nearly $2.8 million announcement includes funds for:

Staff with the Northwestern Health Unit have reported another three new cases of COVID-19 today.

Today’s new cases include two positive test results in the Dryden-Red Lake region, with one of them already being considered resolved, and one new case in the Rainy River area.

The Power of 100 is holding its first-ever VaxxFest today at the Chiniki Rodeo Grounds in the Stoney Nakoda Nation.

Indigenous doctors of the initiative, Dr. Lana Potts and Dr. James Makokis, will be present, along with Indigenous social media influencers Fawn Wood, Dallas Waskahat, and Anthony Johnson.

The Power of 100 focuses on the importance of keeping Indigenous communities safe while also celebrating community through live music, engagement with social media influencers, drive-in movies, and other activities. 

The province recorded another 1,660 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period with a positivity rate of 9.4 per cent.

There are currently 1,058 people in hospital with COVID and 226 of those are in ICU.

Dr. Yiu reported that “Over the past five days, the average number of COVID ICU admissions have been more than 23 per day. It is tragic that we are only able to keep pace with these sorts of numbers because in part some of our ICU patients have passed away and this reality has a deep and lasting impact on our ICU teams.”

The provincial finance minister says he is optimistic about Manitoba's financial recovery after reviewing the latest fiscal quarter.

It has been a taxing year for many, including for those looking at the province's latest fiscal budget. Spending was up by $2 billion, putting the province in a 2.117 billion deficit by the end of March, a new record. 

Albertans have until midnight tonight (Thursday, September 23) to receive a second shot of the COVID vaccine and possibly win a million dollars. 

Anyone who is 18 years of age and older and has received two shots of the COVID vaccine is eligible to win. 

The winner will be contacted by September 30, 2021

To date:

A Christian school in Brandon is the first to be declared in an outbreak this school year.

Public Health says Christian Heritage School is in a COVID-19 outbreak, linked to the delta variant. They are a Kindergarten to Grade 8 school. A class has been moved online and will continue to be online until October 1. An outbreak consists of three positive COVID-19 cases in one cohort within 14 days of each other.

There are slightly more than five dozen new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba Thursday.

Alberta's COVID hospitalizations have now surpassed 1,000, though some positive statistics can be gleaned from the latest numbers.

Hospitalizations are the highest they've been since the beginning of the pandemic, with 1,040 total, 230 of which are in intensive care.

Of those being treated for COVID in hospital, 779 are unvaccinated, and 203 of the ICU patients are unvaccinated.

Individuals are only categorized for partial or complete vaccination 14 days after their first or second dose as it's not considered protective until then.

For the first years of owning Del Rios restaurant in Winkler, Dave Fehr was the first to unlock the doors in the morning and the last one to lock up at night. Sixteen-to-eighteen-hour days were part of his investment into a restaurant that is closed for dine-in business today.

Fehr says he loves his restaurant, his staff, his community and his customers.

"Just great. Thankful, happy, respectful. Just a great customer base in Winkler," he said. "And not just Winkler, we have customers from Steinbach, from Portage, from Winnipeg and all over, and just great people."

Four new positive COVID-19 test results have been found by the Northwestern Health Unit in the region.

Two of the newly found cases were discovered in the Rainy River Health Region, one each was found in the Kenora, and Sioux Lookout Health Regions. 

Follow up with the persons involved and their contacts has started according to protocol. Anyone who is identified as a contact for these cases will be contacted directly.

Currently, there are eight active COVID-19 cases connected to the NWHU catchment area.