Don't get too excited yet, but active cases of COVID-19 are beginning to decline slightly in northern Manitoba.
The province announced 16 new cases of COVID-19 within the region Nov. 17, but the Northern Health Region (NHR) active case count dropped from 331 on Monday to 328 a day later.
Out of northern communities, The Pas/OCN/Kelsey continues to be the north's COVID-19 hotspot. Throughout the district, 242 cases of COVID-19 have been reported during the community's recent COVID-19 spike - 146 people still have active cases in the district. Cross Lake/Pimicikamak has 66 active cases as of Nov. 17 - the community's active case load has hovered around the high 60s for the past week and 13 people in the district have now recovered from COVID-19.
Growing concern can be seen in the Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Moose Lake/Mosakahiken/Easterville/Chemawawin district, which is seeing more cases in the community of Moose Lake. Thirty-nine people in the district still have COVID-19. Island Lake now has 26 people with active COVID-19 cases.
Within the rest of the region, cases are either holding steady or declining. Thompson/Mystery Lake has 21 active cases, a slight bump from recent rates, while 11 cases are listed as "unknown district". No other northern district has more than six active cases, including the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district, which has two active cases and five recoveries. One new case was listed within the district Monday, but was later moved.
Three cases have been found in the Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb health district - while the cases have been assigned to the district, it is believed that the cases were found in former Pukatawagan residents with outdated health information who no longer live in the community. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Ten people in the NHR are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with one person now in intensive care. No new outbreaks or public exposure events have been listed in northern Manitoba.
Province-wide, Manitoba continues to lead the way - regretably - in Canada's per-capita cases, reporting 270 new cases Tuesday and over a hundred new cases each in Winnipeg and in Â鶹´«Ã½AVern Health-Sante Sud. Seven more people have died from COVID-19, including a woman in her 30s from the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, bringing the province's COVID-19 death toll to 179 people.
Adjusting per capita, Manitoba's COVID-19 numbers from Tuesday would be equivalent to around 2,870 cases being found in Ontario - that province reported 1,249 cases Tuesday.
