COVID-19: Manitoba Public Health no longer conducts contact tracing for confirmed cases

Manitoba Public Health is no longer notifying people if they have been identified as a close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, leaving Manitobans to do their own contact tracing.

On the Province of Manitoba’s website, Public Health said that in most situations, health officials will not notify close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

“Confirmed cases of COVID-19 will be asked to notify their contacts,” the website says.

“In some settings, such as schools, personal care homes, daycares, shelters and health care facilities, public health officials will work with the facility to notify close contacts.”

The change does not sit well with Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.

“Contact tracing is a skilled job that you need to be well trained for and part of the training is knowing how to best protect the privacy and confidentiality of individuals,” Schafer said in an interview with CTV’s Renee Rodgers. .

“The Manitoba government’s decision to leave contact tracing to people who have been diagnosed with COVID is just about the dumbest decision by a government that has made a whole series of really questionable decisions.”

The provincial website said the change is due to the concerning variant of Omicron, which has now been identified in Manitoba.

“Manitoba is projecting an increase in COVID-19 cases similar to that seen in other countries and provinces,” the website says.

“This increase in cases and contacts is expected to exceed public health contact notification resources.”

Schafer said contact tracing is an essential public health tool and is concerned that everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is not properly notifying all of their close contacts.

“It’s a really slick job and the Manitoba government is dropping the ball at the most critical time,” he said.

“You might as well not have any contact tracing.”

The provincial website provides instructions on how people should tell close contacts, including what to tell close contacts.

A spokesperson for the province said voluntary disclosure of personal health information regarding a diagnosis of COVID does not violate the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA).