The COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba is a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Manitoba officially reported its first cases on March 12, 2020. A state of emergency was declared on March 20, and implemented its first lockdown on April 1—ordering the closure of all non-essential businesses. In comparison to other provinces, case counts remained relatively low in Manitoba throughout the spring and summer months, and the province began lifting some of its health orders on May 4. Some isolated outbreaks occurred in communal Hutterite colonies and in the Brandon, Manitoba area in late-July and August respectively.
By September 2020, the province had begun to develop a harsher second wave, which led to restrictions being reimplemented in parts of the province (including the city of Winnipeg), and by November 12, all of Manitoba being placed under the highest, "Critical" (red) level of the province's tier-based response system, which reintroduced strong restrictions on gatherings and non-essential activities similar to the first wave.
While some restrictions were eased in early-2021 while remaining under the Critical tier, strong restrictions on gatherings, retail capacity, and specific non-essential sectors of businesses were reintroduced in May 2021 due to a harsher third wave of COVID-19 fuelled by variants of SARS-CoV-2. The province's healthcare system was overwhelmed, which required it to send some of its COVID-19 intensive care patients to neighbouring provinces, and seek federal aid. By June 2021, the province had begun to lift some of its restrictions due to vaccination progress. However, due to Omicron variant, the province began to reintroduce restrictions on gatherings in late-2021. These restrictions were phased out in February and March 2022.
Timeline
March–April 2020 On March 12, 2020, Manitoba Health reported three presumptive cases of COVID-19, all among residents of Winnipeg that had recently returned from travel.
Officials initially announced the first probable case that could not be linked to travel or contact with known patients on March 18, but the case was later determined to be a false positive. On March 20, a state of emergency was issued by Premier Brian Pallister, which implemented enforceable restrictions on gatherings and business sectors. The province reported its first death from COVID-19 on March 27.. The first two recoveries were reported on March 29..
The province confirmed on April 1 that they had seen evidence of community transmission in Winnipeg. On April 2, officials announced that a worker at a personal care home in Gimli had tested positive, and that nine residents were showing symptoms of respiratory illness, but later confirmed on April 5 that the worker's case was a false positive.
An incident at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg exposed numerous employees to the virus, including nurses, doctors, therapists, health care aides, and security guards. By April 3, approximately 100 HSC employees had been required to isolate themselves. Following the event, four nurses at the HSC had tested positive for COVID-19, as well as health care workers at Saint Boniface Hospital and Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, a hospital in Selkirk, and a personal care home in the St. Vital area of Winnipeg.
By April 5, Manitoba reached 200 confirmed cases.. On April 16, the province stated that about 56% of the 250 known cases were directly linked to travel. The number of daily new cases diminished through mid-April, and on April 17, the province announced that the number of known recoveries from COVID-19 had overtaken the number of known cases in Manitoba.
On April 29, Premier Pallister announced that the province would begin a phased lifting of restrictions beginning May 4, beginning with outdoor recreation, retail businesses, patio restaurants, non-urgent healthcare, day-camps, libraries, galleries, and museums. He emphasized that this would not be a "return to normal", but told residents that "You stuck to the fundamentals, and those fundamentals are what will take us forward. But this isn't a victory lap. Today is a celebration because of what you've done and tomorrow will be a celebration because of what you'll continue to do."
The province's Chief Public Health Officer Brent Roussin stated based on modelling, that Manitoba had 666 fewer confirmed cases as of April 25 than it would have had without public health measures.
May–June 2020 In May, the number of new cases continued to decline, with 13 reported in the first 27 days of the month, and only 6 new cases reported after May 12. On May 23, the province announced that there were no COVID-19 patients remaining in the province's hospitals.
In July, a spike of new clusters began to emerge in Manitoba, centred primarily among communal Hutterite colonies. Representatives of the colonies criticized health officials for publicly linking them to these outbreaks, as they were facing stigmatization from the public as a result. The province announced on July 25 that it would no longer publicly link outbreaks to colonies unless they pose a risk to the general public. On July 28, the province reported its first new death from the virus since May 5.
On August 5, an employee of a Maple Leaf Foods facility in Brandon was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19. The next day, the province announced its second-largest increase in daily new cases since the pandemic began, with a cluster of 18 cases being connected to the facility, although transmission was reported to not be occurring within the facility itself. This cluster grew to 64 cases on August 8, which the province announced had developed into community spread within Brandon. By August 12, Manitoba's active case count surpassed 200 for the first time since the pandemic began.
On August 19, the province announced "RestartMB", a colour-coded response system that would classify risks and restrictions on a regional basis. The province was initially placed under the yellow "Caution" tier. On August 20, the Prairie Mountain Health Region became the first region to move to the orange "Restricted" tier, due to increasing community transmission. Face masks became mandatory in public places, and gathering sizes were restricted to 10.
On August 28, Winnipeg mandated the wearing of masks on Winnipeg Transit and at city-owned facilities.
September–November 2020 As of September 3, an outbreak at the Bethesda Place long-term care facility in Steinbach, Manitoba had accounted for four deaths (bringing the provincial total to 16), and at least 17 positive cases among residents and staff. On September 11, the first probable cases within First Nations colonies were reported, including three cases in the Fisher River Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation.
In mid-September, testing capacity in Winnipeg was exhausted for two consecutive days amid a growth in community transmission. Multiple cohorts at the John Pritchard School were also quarantined and switched to remote classes amid cases involving students and staff.
By late-September, a major surge had emerged in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region was placed under the "Restricted" (orange) tier of the response system on September 28, restricting the size of gatherings and mandating the wearing of face masks within indoor public spaces; on October 13, the province experienced a triple-digit gain in new cases for the first time, at 124, with 95 of them being within the Winnipeg Health Region. This was surpassed the next day with 146 new cases.
On October 19, new restrictions were instituted in Winnipeg for 14 days on top of the existing Orange-tier restrictions. All gatherings were limited to five people. Retail establishments, restaurants, libraries, galleries, and museums were restricted to 50% capacity, while gyms, libraries, galleries, and museums must also take contact tracing logs. Sports venues were limited to 25% capacity, and bars, gaming establishments, and live entertainment facilities were ordered closed.
Province-wide critical alert On October 30, 2020, after announcing a total of 480 new cases, it was announced that effective November 3, Winnipeg would be moved to the "Critical" (red) tier of the response system, and all other regions of Manitoba moved to the "Restricted" tier, for at least 14 days. Under the Critical tier dine-in bars and restaurants, cinemas, and concert halls were ordered closed. Retail establishments were capped at 25% capacity, and faith-based gatherings were capped at 15% capacity or 100 people (whichever is lower). Most elective and non-urgent medical procedures were suspended. The mask mandate extended to gyms while exercising, The Orange tier restrictions elsewhere mirrored the restrictions that had been in place in Winnipeg since October 19.
On November 9, the Southern health region was moved to Critical tier. Chief Medical Health Officer Brent Roussin stated that a circuit breaker was being considered due to widespread community transmission province-wide, with the province having reported over 2,000 cases in the past week alone.
On November 10, it was announced that the entire province would be moved to Critical on the response system effective November 12, prohibiting any social, religious, or cultural gathering, and ordering the closure of all non-critical businesses (with critical businesses restricted to 25% capacity), dine-in bars and restaurants, cinemas, concert halls, gaming facilities (casinos and video lottery), gyms, sports and recreation facilities, and personal care services. K-12 schools remained open to in-person classes, with Roussin arguing that the province was "not seeing a lot of transmission within schools."
On November 20, additional restrictions were added province-wide: visitors at homes are prohibited unless they are providing a critical service or are otherwise covered by an exception, while critical retailers may only admit a maximum of 250 customers at once, and are prohibited from displaying or selling non-critical goods to in-store customers. On November 23, the province reported its largest increase in cases to-date, at 546.
December 2020 – January 2021 On December 8, all present health orders were extended through January 8, 2021 to discourage holiday gatherings. Amendments were also announced effective December 12, making school supplies considered critical goods, and a "seasonal exception" for goods related to holidays. Thrift stores were allowed to reopen without restrictions on goods to reduce disproportionate impact on low-income families. Drive-in events would also be permitted, provided that vehicle passengers are from the same household only, and must remain in the vehicle at all times.
On January 21, 2021, it was announced that restrictions would be modified in the Interlake-Eastern, Prairie Mountain Health, Southern Health, and Winnipeg regions effective January 23, to allow households to have up to two designated visitors, non-critical retail to resume (25% capacity or 250 customers, whichever is lower), and hair salons and non-regulated health services to resume operations with restrictions. Due to a surge in the area, Northern Manitoba remained under the existing restrictions.
February–March 2021 On February 12, 2021, the health orders were modified to allow some indoor businesses (besides casinos and concert venues) to reopen at 25% capacity, including restaurants (same household at tables only), gyms, indoor sports facilities (individual instruction only), outdoor sports facilities to resume operations (multi-team tournaments prohibited), weddings to be held with 10 guests, and places of worship to hold in-person services with a limited capacity (10% capacity or 50 people, whichever is lower). The province remained at the "Critical" tier.