Manitoba case surge worries doctors

WINNIPEG • Manitoba’s premier is considering a curfew to curb a surge in COVID-19 infections as doctors sound the alarm about pressures mounting on hospitals and health-care workers.

“I have never seen the emotional and mental stress occurring with my colleagues as I have in the last couple of weeks,” Dr. Kendiss Olafson, an intensive care physician in Winnipeg, said Monday.

Health officials said 75 of 80 intensive care beds in Manitoba were filled Monday — 18 had COVID-19 and, of those, 11 were on ventilators.

Olafson, who has been working in intensive care for 16 years, said this situation is different than anything she’s experienced. As more patients come in and colleagues fall sick, she said, the pandemic takes a toll, especially since health- care workers know the strain on the system is set to worsen.

Hospitalizations tend to lag a few weeks behind people being initially identified as having COVID-19.

Health officials reported 241 new infections in the province Monday and five deaths. That followed a weekend with 661 cases and 10 deaths. The positive cases mean many hospitalizations are on the way, Olafson said.

Doctors Manitoba, the organization that represents about 3,000 practising and retired physicians, said there’s concern hospital capacity will be overwhelmed within days.

Winnipeg moved into the red zone on Manitoba’s pandemic response scale on Monday and the rest of the province was elevated to orange.

That means newly tightened restrictions have forced the closure of restaurants and bars in the city, except for takeout and delivery. Other measures include limited capacity at most retail stores to 25 per cent and suspension of sports programming.

In the rest of the province, restaurants, bars and stores are limited to half capacity. Public gatherings are capped at five people — a restriction recently implemented in the Winnipeg region only.

The orders will be in place for at least two weeks.

Premier Brian Pallister said he is considering taking restrictions a step further after hearing about large get- togethers. He called for public feedback on a possible curfew.