Brandon’s largest private employer has stepped up in a big way this week to help with the city’s battle against an ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. in partnership with the City of Brandon will distribute masks to residents of the city on Wednesday, August 19. Each household is eligible to receive a bag of 25 three-ply disposable masks, available for pickup at one of two sites on the day between 10am and 4pm.
According to a press release distributed by the company on Monday, pickup site #1 will be at the Keystone Centre at a pickup station accessible via the 18th Street and Queens Avenue entrance to the property. Pickup site #2 will be at the Riverbank Discovery Centre property inside the gazebo in the North parking lot.
Wednesday’s effort is part of an initiative to distribute 500,000 masks within the community with potential additional future pickups scheduled and announced as necessary.
Brandon is in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak that according to data published by the Province of Manitoba has the City with 86 active cases of the virus to go alongside 64 recoveries. Included in those numbers are 59 additional cases reported since Thursday, leading to a net increase of 15 active cases since that time.
Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain in a media release earlier this month confirmed what were at the time ten diagnosed COVID-19 cases at the company’s Brandon pork plant. Following investigation the cases were stated to have been acquired in the community, with no evidence of transmission within the workplace.
According to data published by Economic Development Brandon, Maple Leaf Foods is the city's largest manufacturing employer with 2000 employees. Only Prairie Mountain Health employs more with a staff of nearly 2700.
The Province of Manitoba has increasingly integrated recommending the use of masks within a wider strategy to limit transmission of the virus. Manitobans have been asked to wear a mask when unable to physically distance outside the home with a growing list of businesses and organizations now requiring their use. Provincial officials have stressed that masks are only one tool alongside critical measures that include frequent thorough hand washing, physical distancing and remaining at home when having symptoms of illness.
For more on COVID-19 in Manitoba, the Province maintains an extensive section on the virus at https://manitoba.ca/covid19/