In response to rising COVID-19 infection rates, the province announced Saturday that all 27 schools in the Garden Valley and Red River Valley school divisions will move to remote learning starting next week.

The move is effective Tuesday, May 18th and will last until May 30th.

"I want to thank all school staff, students and families for their efforts to keep schools learning and provide in-class learning to the greatest extent possible," said Education minister, Cliff Cullen, adding Manitoba is at an important and critical time in its pandemic response. "We know that schools play an essential role in our childrens' education, well-being and mental health, and that health and safety measures implemented by schools have been effective in keeping schools open. However, an increase in cases of COVID-19 require additional measures to ensure the safety of students and staff."

Deputy chief provincial public health officer, Dr. Jazz Atwal, echoed that sentiment, adding it was the ease of interactions between students on the way to and from school, as well as gatherings, that helped drive up community transmission in these areas.

Dr. Atwal noted this decision was not a knee-jerk reaction, rather a response to recent accumulating data.

"We've had discussions about it. Yesterday there were more cases and this morning we learned of more cases as well. Those investigations are not complete, but we could see the trend that was occurring and the risk that was there, and we felt we had to do something to break that chain and this was one mechanism to break that community transmission, and so we had to act on that," he explained.

Minister Cullen and Dr. Atwal urged Manitobans to remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19, adding the hope is to have to students in these affected divisions back in school to finish off the year.

"We feel there's an opportunity here for schools to come back," said Dr. Atwal. "We have two weeks until remote learning ends and we have to determine our risk at that time."

According to Minister Cullen, 373 out of Manitoba's 820 schools have been transitioned to remote learning for the time-being. Including Saturday's addition of the Garden Valley and Red River Valley school divisions, this encompasses all schools in the Brandon and Winnipeg divisions that made the move last week, plus 8 additional schools.