COVID-19

Throughout the school year, there is a large number of volunteers and organizations which make the Food for Thought Program possible. Food for Thought is a non-profit program that provides food for hungry schoolchildren. It is a program that partners Rocky View Schools with local groups to promote healthy eating and provide food for students. 

Ontario and Manitoba residents can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the Ontario/Manitoba border is open to non-essential travel. That means cottage owners and tourists can now enter into the province.

As of Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. the Ontario/Manitoba border restrictions were lifted after almost two months of being closed to non-essential travel and the O.P.P. checkpoints were removed.

For Ontario residents, this is huge to be able to travel to Manitoba for groceries, shopping, and other amenities that were closed to residents previously.

According to the AHS dashboard as of Thursday, June 17 at 5 p.m., 69.9 per cent of the provincial population have received one dose of the COVID19 vaccine.

That is up from 69.7 per cent reported Wednesday.

Second dose vaccinations rose from 23.1 per cent to 24.2 per cent.

What that means for activation of Stage 3 of Open for Summer, no word from officials.

Albertans continue to play the waiting game.

Today's numbers saw 150 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours with a positivity rate of 2.5 per cent.

Physicians in our province are calling for decisive action as the backlog in surgeries and diagnostic tests continues to grow.

Doctors Manitoba estimates the "pandemic backlog" has reached over 110,000 procedures and is growing.

"The pandemic backlog of medical tests and surgeries is staggering, and it's getting bigger every day," Dr. Kristjan Thompson, President of Doctors Manitoba says in a Thursday conference. "As we move past this third wave, patients need to see immediate and sustained action to address this critical issue."

After searching Winnipeg, St. Clements, and now the Whiteshell, RCMP Manitoba is enlisting for more help.

Adding to the already-heavy police presence RCMP Manitoba's Emergency Response Team, Police Dog Services, Critical Incident Command, Air Services, and Major Crime Services are combing the Whiteshell after a sighting of a homicide suspect's rental vehicle.

Now, Ontario Provincial Police are joining the search for 34-year-old Eric Wildman, who authorities say is considered armed and dangerous. 

A freeze in Pfizer is unlikely to affect current COVID-19 vaccine appointments but may result in eligibility delays. 

A slowdown in Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shipments is expected for the province. This is the vaccine is the only one available for people aged 12-17 years old and the RBC Convention Centre, Manitoba's largest vaccine super site, main vaccine. Johanu Botha, the Operations lead of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force in Manitoba, was alerted late afternoon Wednesday of the slowdown.

Manitoba's COVID-19 situation continues to improve. 

The outbreak is declared over at Tabor Home in Morden and Bethesda Regional Health Centre, medical unit, in Steinbach. 

Students in Dauphin will remain in remote learning for the remainder of the year, while Morden will resume in-class learning on June 21.

Public health officials advise one new death in a person with COVID-19 has been reported today:
• a female in her 60s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.

The Northwestern Health Unit has reported 1 new positive COVID-19 test result in the district.

The confirmed positive test result was identified in the Sioux Lookout region.

Currently, the NWHU catchment area has 7 active cases. Three in the Kenora Health Region, three in the Rainy River Health Region, and one now in the Sioux Lookout Health Region.

As of Monday, the NWHU is reporting a vaccination rate of 71.1 per cent of people eligible have received their first dose and 34.9 per cent of people eligible have received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Pastor Victor Cuarto just finished giving his 55th blood donation and invites people who can give blood to do so.

"Five of those times were whole blood and after that, I got invited to give platelets because I have a very high platelet count. I can give those twice a month, which is why in three and a half years I've been able to give 55 times," says Cuarto.

This week is National Blood Donor Week running from June 13–19, 2021.

Officials are expecting second-dose eligibility for second COVID-19 vaccines to fully open by the end of next week.

As of Wednesday morning, 70 per cent of all Manitobans 12-years-old and older have received their first COVID-19 vaccine. The province hit the 70 per cent milestone for adults earlier this month. To celebrate one million doses, the province is launching a campaign. As of Wednesday 1,077,421 doses of vaccine have been administered.