Manitobans can expect provincial restrictions to be loosened in waves.

Our Chief Provincial Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin announced that Wednesday afternoon with respect to COVID-19. He notes in the coming weeks, health officials will look for ways to ease those restrictions.

“We are going to look at ways to safely reopen certain non-essential businesses, while others will remain closed,” shares Dr. Roussin.

However, he cautions, this will not be a return to normal.

“There will be a new normal for the foreseeable future,” says Dr. Roussin.

What exactly will a ‘new normal’ look like in Manitoba? Dr. Roussin says we will not be seeing large group gatherings for some time yet. But he says it is difficult to predict just how long.

“Certainly, months,” he says. “For the next number of months, we are not going to be seeing large group gatherings.”

He admits it is tough to say whether restrictions on large group gatherings will extend to the fall. However, he points out, it will not be months yet that large group gatherings will be defined as ten people.

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On the other hand, Dr. Roussin says we are approaching the end of the school year and so it is tough to know how much of the education calendar could even be finished if that was something being considered.

“The first wave of our expansion is going to focus mostly on the non-essential businesses and really monitor very closely the effects on our numbers,” he says.

Meanwhile, there are now 25 health care workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Manitoba. There have been four new cases in the past week. A total of 789 staff members have been tested for the virus in the last seven days.

Of the 25 cases, 23 of the individuals are employed in Winnipeg, while the other two are in the Interlake-Eastern region. There are still zero cases within Southern Health.

Of the 25 cases, five are medical staff, eight are nurses and the other 12 work in other areas of Allied Health or support services. Fifteen staff have recovered from the virus and have returned to work.