Manitoba's plan to end mandatory quarantine prompts scorn from medical experts, fear among the vulnerable

Manitoba's plan to end mandatory isolation for people infected with COVID-19 is being panned by medical experts as unscientific and has left vulnerable people and their families complaining the province is abandoning them.

On March 15, Manitoba will no longer require people with COVID-19 to quarantine for any length of time, public health officials announced on Wednesday.

The same day, the province plans to eliminate the mandatory use of masks in indoor public places.

The simultaneous elimination of these pandemic measures is earning widespread criticism, especially from people most at risk of contracting COVID-19.

"It's like sort of being put out to pasture a little bit," said Dave Hanson, a Winnipegger whose immune system is compromised by a medical condition that leaves him more vulnerable to infection.

"Throughout the course of the pandemic, what's been helpful at many points is when there are ongoing mandates of various kinds that do encourage the public as a whole to be co-operative and act as a community," he said Thursday in an interview.

"It's always been more effective when it's been a requirement, as opposed to like kind of an option."

Jillian Garofalo, the mother of a 10-month-old infant, said she was shocked to learn the province was ending mandatory quarantine the same day indoor mask use will no longer be compulsory in public places.

"People with COVID are just going to be walking around with COVID and maybe they're also unvaccinated. So how do I protect my kid?" she asked.

"Do I just not bring her to the grocery store or the mall anymore, which is stuff that I enjoyed doing once I was vaccinated and people were wearing masks?"

On Wednesday, Premier Heather Stefanson said the elimination of pandemic protections is required in order for Manitobans to learn to live with COVID-19.

"Look, there's risk inherent in everything," Stefanson told reporters at the Manitoba legislature, insisting the province is still recommending Manitobans isolate at home if they're infected.

This will just confuse people, charged Dr. Philippe Lagacé-Wiens, a medical microbiologist at St. Boniface Hospital.

"The messaging that people are going to receive is 'I don't need to self-isolate after I test positive' and the message that should have been sent out is the province is no longer going to be using the rule of law to enforce it," he said Thursday in an interview.