2nd COVID-19 death at Winnipeg personal care home brings Manitoba's death toll to 21

Another person in Manitoba who hadCOVID-19 has died,bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic to 21, public health officials say.

The most recent death is a man in his 70s who lived at Parkview Place in Winnipeg, where an outbreak was declared last month. This is the second death at that personal care homeinvolving a person who had thedisease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Atotal of 23people at Parkview Place sevenstaff members and 16 residents have now tested positive for COVID-19, the care home's operator, Revera, confirmed Friday afternoon.

As of Friday morning, there were 43 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba, the province said in a news release. There have now been a total of 2,072 confirmed cases of the virus in the province,with 652 cases still active, up from 621 on Thursday.

More than half of the new cases 29 are in the Winnipeg health region. This continues the trend of the capital region leading the rest of the province in new case numbers, five days after health officials introduced stricter health restrictions in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.

There are seven new casesin the Prairie Mountain Health region, six in the Interlake-Eastern health region, and one in the Southern Health region.

Manitoba set a record for the highest number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 to date. There are currently 18 people in hospital with the illness, with seven patients in intensive care.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 2.3 per cent, up from 2.1 per cent on Thursday.

The province also released COVID-19 safety guidelines for Thanksgiving and Halloween. They recommend that families limit Thanksgiving gatherings to members of their household, while trick-or-treating can go ahead, as long as people follow fundamental precautions.

New personal care home outbreak

Health officials declared a new outbreak at the Carberry Personal Care Home, while they said the outbreak is over at the Fairview Personal Care Home in Brandon, Man.

They also announced a number of possible exposures at various locations, including a school, two child-care centres and three businesses.

Someone infected with the coronavirus was at Hugh John MacDonald Schoolin Winnipeg on Sept. 28, but investigators assessed the risk of transmission as low, and they don't believe the infection occurred at school.

A cohort at LindenwoodsChild Care Centre in Winnipeg is isolating due to possible exposuresSept. 23 to 25 and Sept. 28 to 29.

Health officials also announcedadditional caseof COVID-19 have been confirmed atLes enfants prcieux child-care centre in Winnipeg.

These cases had attended the centre since Sept. 18, when the first possible exposure occurred, although investigators don't believe theinfections were acquired at the centre.

The new cases include staff and children.

Potential exposures

A possible exposure occurred at Polo Park on Sept. 19, including at Foot Locker in the late morning and at Famous Wok in the food court around lunch time.

Another possible exposure happened at Bar Red Sea, 268 Portage Ave. in Winnipeg, on Sept. 19 from midnight to 3:30 a.m.

The Boston Pizza in Dauphin,at 1450 Main St., had a possible exposure on Sept. 13 from approximately 3:30 to 6 p.m.

There also was a possible exposure on WestJet Flight 147 from Winnipeg to Edmonton, rows four to 10, on Sept. 21.

On Friday afternoon, Winnipeg Transit also advised of a potential exposure onRoute 10 bus and Route 14 buses on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24.The person travelled on both days between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., says a city news release.

On both days, the person who tested positive had boardedthe Route 10 bus at Provencher Boulevard and Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste, and exitedat Portage Avenue at Donald Street.

The individual then transferred to a Route 14 bus, exiting at Ellice Avenue at Simcoe Street.