Overall, northern COVID-19 cases went down significantly April 22. A provincial government data correction has brought the number of active COVID-19 cases in northern Manitoba down dramatically. The region, which 711 listed cases Wednesday, now sits at 450 active cases after a backlog of cases were marked as recovered. Most of the cases that were moved were in remote areas, including in several Indigenous communities. The biggest change in the north was seen in the Pukatawagan-Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (MCCN) district, which now sits at 16 active cases of COVID-19 - as of Wednesday, 146 cases were listed as active in the district, an artificially high number because of provincial health reporting delays. The remote Island Lake district also saw cases drop, going from 348 active cases Wednesday to 240 Thursday.
“It’s been a very successful campaign in regards to distribution,” she said, as First Nations, with assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces and other organizations like the Red Cross, attempt to deliver 100,000 vaccine doses in 100 days. “Now we need those vaccines in arms.” Although there has been vaccine hesitancy in some First Nations, MacKinnon said in others uptake is as high as 75 tp nearly 80 per cent of adults. “More and more people are wanting to be immunized so that’s fantastic news,” MacKinnon said. Dr. Michael Routledge, medical advisor to MKO’s health organization Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin Inc., said vaccine hesitancy is nothing new and urged anyone with questions to ask a trusted health care professional rather than relying on information from social media or other sources, which may not be scientifically valid.