Manitoba reported its first COVID-19 death in nearly three months on Tuesday, but health officials were releasing few details.
A man in his 70s from the Southern Health region is the province’s eighth coronavirus fatality and the first since May 5.
A spokeswoman for Manitoba Health said the man died on July 22 and had not been hospitalized.
The province would not say whether he suffered from any underlying health conditions, as has been the case with most COVID-19- related deaths in Manitoba.
After repeated requests for information from the Free Press, the spokeswoman revealed the man was “a known contact of a previously reported case.”
Reported coronavirus deaths in Manitoba
March 27: A Winnipeg woman in her 60s who had been in intensive care is the first Manitoban to die of the coronavirus.
April 3: A Winnipeg man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions is the province’s second fatality due to the virus.
April 7: The third Manitoban to die is a Winnipeg man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions.
April 10: The province’s fourth COVID-19 death is a man in his 70s from Winnipeg with underlying medical conditions.
March 27: A Winnipeg woman in her 60s who had been in intensive care is the first Manitoban to die of the coronavirus.
April 3: A Winnipeg man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions is the province’s second fatality due to the virus.
April 7: The third Manitoban to die is a Winnipeg man in his 60s with underlying medical conditions.
April 10: The province’s fourth COVID-19 death is a man in his 70s from Winnipeg with underlying medical conditions.
April 15: A woman in her 60s from Prairie Mountain health region who had been in intensive care is Manitoba’s fifth virus death.
April 20: The sixth person to die of COVID-19 is a Winnipeg woman in her 80s with underlying health conditions.
May 5: A man in his 70s with underlying health conditions from Southern Health authority becomes the seventh Manitoban to die of COVID-19.
July 28: A man in his 70s from Southern Health, who is reported to have died six days earlier, is announced as the province’s eighth COVID-19 death. He had not been hospitalized. There’s no word on whether he had underlying health conditions.
“Public health announced the death today after a thorough investigation and confirmation of results,” she said in an email Tuesday. She offered no more information, citing privacy reasons.
Officials would not say whether the man died at home, in a personal care home or in some other facility.
It’s unclear when they learned that he had COVID-19 or even if the virus was the immediate cause of death.
The death occurred as Manitoba has seen a modest surge in coronavirus cases following nearly two weeks without a reported infection earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the province issued a news release reporting five new COVID-19 cases (including the person who died). In addition to the man in his 70s from Southern Health, the new cases involved a man in his 50s from the Winnipeg health region, a man in his 20s from Prairie Mountain health region, and a male between the ages of 10 and 19 and a woman in her 40s from Interlake-Eastern health region.
Three Manitobans remain in hospital with COVID-19, two of them in intensive care. There are 78 active cases.
The current five-day test positivity rate in Manitoba is now 0.40 per cent.
Dr. David Butler-Jones, former head of the Public Health Agency of Canada, interviewed before the province revealed the latest death had been linked to a previous COVID-19 case, speculated that Manitoba officials may not have confirmed the man had the virus until after he died.
If officials just learned the man had COVID-19, they would have to identify who was in contact with the man when he first began showing symptoms, he said.
“There’s certainly time to do the contact tracing, but you’d have to be quick because you’re finding out about this somewhat after the fact,” Butler-Jones said.
“We need more details so that we can understand what our risks are,” Dr. Joel Kettner said.
Dr. Joel Kettner, associate professor at the University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, said public health officials should provide as much information as possible about COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations so that the public has a greater understanding of the health risks caused by the virus.
“You can give a whole bunch of information without breaking anonymity,” he said Tuesday. “We need more details so that we can understand what our risks are.”
For persons under 60 years of age with no underlying health conditions, the risks of death or hospitalization from COVID-19 are low, said Kettner, who was formerly the province’s chief public health officer.
Most COVID-19 deaths involve elderly persons with underlying health conditions, he said.
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Larry Kusch Legislature Reporter
Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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