Manitoba is transitioning away from public health orders and towards public health recommendations.

On Tuesday, the province moved to Level Yellow under the Pandemic Response System. That means capacity limits are now eliminated in venues such as restaurants, licensed premises, entertainment venues, indoor and outdoor sporting events and casinos, as well as gatherings at private residences.

Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin acknowledges that for some Manitobans, the lifting of restrictions cannot come soon enough, yet for others, this is all happening much too quickly. With the shift away from orders, Roussin asks all Manitobans to continue to respect each other, noting it has been a difficult two years on pretty much every Manitoban.

"This is going to be a difficult transition phase," he adds.

Manitoba has also indicated that mask requirements and other restrictions will be lifted on March 15. Yet, Roussin points out that many people will likely continue to wear masks after that date. In fact, he says some businesses and health care facilities might choose to continue requiring masks after March 15.

"Manitobans should expect that in some settings, especially in health care facilities, personal care homes, some protective measures may stay in place to protect those people who are vulnerable to infection," he notes.

Roussin says this shift away from public health orders is not unlike any other public health recommendations. He notes there are all sorts of measures that public health recommends for reducing the risk of disease, yet these are only recommended, not mandated.

"We've gotten into this period of extreme measures that we've really never used to this degree in the past," Roussin says. "And so it's very challenging for people to exit from that."

Meanwhile, Manitoba is planning to remove proof of vaccine requirements on March 1. Roussin says they will have more to say shortly on what exactly the future holds for issuing these cards. He notes Manitobans will still need their proof of vaccine for things like travel and so there are a lot of complexities attached to this.