COVID-19

A man recovering from COVID-19 is sharing his powerful testimony of coming through the worst of it.

"Like a lot of people, I took care of myself, and I tried to be careful. I figured it probably won't happen to me but then it did," says Richard Thorgeirson, an administrative pastor with The Believer's Church in Winnipeg.

Back in early November of 2020, he came down with a slight fever. 

"The boss said, no you can't risk that, we've got to get you tested right away. I was tested, the results came back as positive. Up until that time, I felt reasonably well."

Dr. Hinshaw provided a live COVID-19 update for Thursday, June 13. She is pleased with the vaccine uptake and reported that over 44,000 Albertans had been immunized yesterday alone. To date, 2.88 million have received at least one dose of vaccine.

In the City of Grande Prairie, ten new COVID-19 cases were reported today (June 3), and six people recovered. The active total is 76 and 3,778 recoveries. 

In the County of Grande Prairie, four new cases were added, and three people recovered. There are now 54 active cases and 1326 recoveries. 

Peace Region totals: 

A group of southern Manitoba pastors are being called upon to help address the low COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the region.

John Klassen spent about 35 years involved in pastoral ministry in the Winkler area, having recently retired from his position at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church in March, and is presently serving on a part-time basis for the Arnaud Mennonite Church. 

According to data compiled by Manitoba Health, the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the Southern Health region is 43.3 per cent as of Wednesday.

Students who have been learning online might have the chance to return to the classroom on a limited basis to wrap up the year.

The province is announcing the extension of online learning Thursday afternoon. The announcement includes schools in Winnipeg, Brandon, and the Garden Valley and Red River Valley school divisions.

Healthcare workers with various roles throughout this pandemic took on a new role Wednesday night: Winnipeg Jets fans.

Swapping well-worn scrubs for jerseys, 500 healthcare workers walked into the doors of BellMTS Place as special guests of the hockey team.

Earlier this week it was announced that for home Stanley Cup playoff games, up to 500 healthcare workers would be allowed to attend BellMTS Place in person.

Elevated COVID-19 cases in one community are resulting in the town's schools going remote.

All Morden schools are going online for kindergarten to Grade 12 students. This will start on Monday and last two weeks, until June 21.

"Public health will review the situation at that time. The change has been recommended as COVID-19 case counts are elevated in the community," the province says in a statement Thursday.

Morden has 34 active COVID-19 cases. Its neighbour, Winkler, has 70.

The province is announcing funding they say will make an impact on vaccine hesitancy.

The province believes by stepping back and giving communities the power to reach out to their neighbours will make a bigger impact than they can at this point of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

"We are at a critical point in the third wave. There is every reason for optimism. There are more vaccines going into arms and we have people abiding by the health orders and continuing to do both those two things," Premier Brian Pallister says in a Thursday press conference.

On June 2, B.C. reported that 71.1% of all adults in B.C. and 68% of those 12 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.  

In total, 3,365,286 doses have been administered in B.C., 208,145 of which are second doses. 

B.C. is currently in Step 1 of their restart plan. Step 2 could start as early as June 15. The criteria for moving to Step 2 is at least 65% of the 18+ population vaccinated with dose 1, along with declining case counts and COVID-19 hospitalizations.   

No new cases of COVID-19 have been reported across the region, for the fourth straight day.

The active case count continues to decline. As of June 3, there are six active cases across the district. Four in the Kenora Health Hub and two in the Sioux Lookout Health Hub.