Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and the City of Brandon are partnering to make three-ply, disposable masks available to all members of the community to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The first mask distribution day will be Wednesday, August 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at two sites in the City of Brandon. The first site will be the Keystone Centre, 1175 18th Street in Brandon. Enter at the Queens and 18th entrance, pull up at the mask station and receive the bag of masks through the window. Cars will exit out Hill Avenue. The second site will be Riverbank Discovery Centre, 545 Conservation Drive inside the Gazebo at the North parking lot. Each household will receive a bag of 25, three-ply, disposable masks at the two pick-up stations. More distribution days will be scheduled as needed. As the city’s largest employer, Maple Leaf Foods is deeply committed to helping the community stay safe and is pleased to work with the City of Brandon on this effort. Social distancing, frequent hand washing and wearing a mask are the most effective steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to protect the community. Maple Leaf also delivered nearly 10,000 masks to local social service agencies in Brandon this week. That’s just a small part of the 500,000 masks that Maple Leaf is offering to citizens and agencies throughout the community. More information on this initiative, including distribution times and locations, will be available on the Maple Leaf Foods website at www.mapleleaffoods.com and the City of Brandon website at www.brandon.ca. (Source: Maple Leaf Foods News Release)

Last Wednesday, August 12th, Brandon's Trevor Thompson was in a freak bike accident on a remote trail in Riding Mountain National Park. He was immediately paralyzed from the neck down. With no cell service, it took hours to get help and paramedics to arrive, and he was airlifted by STARS to HSC in Winnipeg. Later, he regained some motor control and feeling and was scheduled for emergency surgery. After this kind of trauma and major spinal surgery performed on Saturday, his doctors are confident he will regain mobility with time, rehabilitation, and physiotherapy. Friends & family are hoping for the best, but know this will be a very long road to recovery. Trevor leads an active busy life; raising 3 girls, camping at Sporty’s, fishing, biking, hiking, kayaking, boating, refereeing volleyball, physically training, etc. and as you know he is STUBBORN — he will fight to get it all back. Trevor will have sick leave and disability coverage if needed, but there will be shortfalls They have 3 teenage girls at home: one in College, Grade 12, and Grade 9. A  Go Fund Me was setup (by Tracy & Dallis Wray) to help alleviate the financial stress the family is facing, so they can focus on recovery and their family. This will help to cover additional living and travel expenses for Sandra, and the partial loss of income while off work. We don’t know right now how long Trevor will need our support.

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At 11 am, Saturday morning, police attended the Assiniboine River adjacent to the bridge on Highway 110 regarding a complaint of a vehicle in the water.  The vehicle was unoccupied and when removed from the river, found to be stolen from Souris.

The Manitoba government is releasing practice guidance and protocols to ensure students, teachers and families know what to expect upon returning to classrooms in September and to provide consistency across schools, Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced today. “The safety and health of students and staff, and their families, are the priority as Manitoba returns to in-class learning,” said Goertzen. “These protocols, in accordance with Public Health advice, will be implemented by all school divisions as part of the Manitoba government’s detailed guidance.” The protocols include additional Public Health advice regarding the use of masks at schools. It is strongly recommended that students in grades 5 to 12, school staff and others in schools wear non-medical masks in common areas and where physical distancing of two metres is not possible. Younger students can also use non-medical masks if they or their parents or caregivers so choose. Non-medical masks should not be worn by anyone who is unable to remove one without assistance or by those with breathing difficulties. All students in Grade 5 and up, and bus drivers, will be required to wear non-medical masks on school buses. Masks should be put on before loading and taken off after off-loading. The province will provide masks to school divisions for distribution to students and staff, as well as other personal protective equipment to ensure safe and healthy schools, Goertzen noted. Manitoba Education’s Practice Guidance and Protocols for Restoring Safe Schools has been prepared in response to school division and independent school planning for the return to classroom learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The protocols are fully consistent with provincial Public Health and Health Canada guidance. “Public Health officials worked closely with Manitoba Education and are confident this plan balances the safety of students with the importance of returning to classroom learning,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer. “As always, the simplest and most effective prevention measures are staying home when sick, practising proper hand hygiene, covering your cough, and not sharing items with others.” Should a case of COVID-19 occur at a school, Public Health will work closely with school administrators to identify close contacts, notify them and advise them to self-isolate. The areas of a school where exposures took place will be cleaned and disinfected, and these areas will not be used until it is determined safe to do so. School communities will be notified when a student at their school is a confirmed case, once close contacts have been identified. A closure of a school would be a last resort and only with evidence of transmission among multiple groups of students or staff, Roussin noted. School divisions will post their individual plans during the week of Aug. 17 for the return to schools and the plans will be linked to the Manitoba Education website. Each division’s plan will outline procedures for following Public Health orders and guidelines, for addressing the mental health and well-being of the school community, and for communicating information to students, staff and families. “The goal of the Restoring Safe Schools plan is to maximize in-class learning while maintaining a focus on safety,” said Goertzen. “Parents and students need to know there is a process in place in the event students become ill and how their safety will be maintained.” The province will work closely with Public Health, education stakeholders, school divisions, independent schools, parents, caregivers and students to ensure consistent, timely and responsive information, and to act on issues as they arise. The EngageMB website at https://engagemb.ca/welcoming-our-students-back-restoring-safe-schools will remain the best forum for parents, caregivers and students to post questions for response throughout the return to classroom learning. In addition, a telephone town hall for parents, caregivers and students is scheduled for Aug. 18 with Roussin and Goertzen. For more information on COVID-19, www.manitoba.ca/covid19/ or Manitoba Education’s latest COVID-19 Education News website at www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/covid/index.html. (Province of MB News Release)

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At 1:57pm, police responded to a vehicle vs pedestrian collision at the intersection of 18th Street and McTavish Ave.  A north bound vehicle struck an adult male pedestrian who was walking westbound through the pedestrian corridor.  The male was transported to the hospital in serious condition where he was held for observation.  His condition later improved and he was released from hospital.  The incident is still under investigation pending the report from the traffic analyst.